According to FTC chairman Timothy J. Muris, "Schemes that capture consumers and hold them at sites against their will while exposing Internet users, including children, to solicitations for gambling, psychics, lotteries and pornography must be stopped."

In addition to closing the sites, the FTC will seek the return of all profits earned by the scheme, estimated to be in the range of US$800,000 to $1 million per year.

Spelling Definitely Counts

The defendant in the case, John Zuccarini of Andalusia, Pennsylvania, allegedly registered slight misspellings of hundreds of popular Internet domain names, such as "cartonnetwork" for "cartoonnetwork."

In other cases, he registered Web sites using inverted names of popular legitimate sites, such as "cartoonjoe" for "joecartoon." He also registered 41 variations of the name of pop star Britney Spears.

When hapless surfers entered the wrong name, they would be taken to Zuccarini's site, where they would then be bombarded by a series of rapidly opening windows. An FTC demonstration caused 29 windows to open in rapid succession. In some cases the legitimate Web site's window would also be opened, leading the surfer to believe the ads were somehow connected with that site.

Mousetrapped!

It was nearly impossible for surfers to depart from one of the scam sites, once taken there. Pages were programmed so that if the user hit the "Back" button or attempted to close a window, more windows would open. The programming process is called a "mousetrap."

In addition, the FTC alleges that the cyberscammer used "stealth" pages that contained no data , but which were invisible and whose sole purpose was to launch still another Web page blizzard.

Zuccarini himself has not yet been served, as court officials have not been able to locate him. Some of the sites ordered closed are still operating, which could expose him to contempt of court charges as well.

Kids, Jobs at Risk

Aside from the extreme nuisance factor presented by uncontrollable Web windows, the court found that there was a risk to children from seeing pornographic images. In addition, employees whose computers showed porn images, however inadvertently, could find their jobs at risk because of company policies.

According to the FTC, Zuccarini has been sued 63 times over his Web site domain names and has so far lost 53 of the cases, with others yet to be ruled on. He is registered to do business under a variety of company names, at least 22 of which reportedly contain the word "cupcake."

People who believe they have been victimized are urged to contact the FTC by telephone at 1-877-382-4357 and use the FTC's case name -- "Cupcake Party."