The FTC, which receives about 15,000 e-mails a day from consumers, also announced that it is launching a three-pronged spam-fighting program consisting of the settlement, another round of warning letters and an education effort to get spam "off the Net."

"We want to send a message today: We're going after deceptive spam and the people who send it," FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris said.

Spam Sting

The FTC caught the seven, who settled their cases, by responding to their continuing solicitations after mailing warnings to them to stop in September 2000, FTC staff attorney Jennifer Mandigo told NewsFactor.

The FTC said it searched online newsgroups and its own junk e-mail database, which contains more than 8 million spam messages dating back to 1998, to find 2,000 participants from 60 different countries involved in the electronic chain letter scam.

Of the 2,000 participants, the seven who settled this week -- and who will be barred from involvement in other schemes and monitored by the FTC -- matched the list of those originally warned, Mandigo said.

"That's just the way it worked out," she said. "Most who we sent letters to stopped. A few persisted."

Spam Search Advances

Mandigo said the FTC has had to upgrade its spam database system -- adding more storage and implementing search software -- to keep up with the volume of spam it receives.

"We've been upgrading that to refine it down to what will really help our case," she said. "The new software allowed us to search for key words and phrases so we could go through the last year's database and find this chain e-mail."

Opt Not To Opt Out

Mandigo advised recipients of spam not to respond to any unsolicited e-mail, even if their goal is to be removed from a spammer's list and especially if the spam is suspect.

"Legitimate marketers who use e-mail, we find that generally, these guys actually take you off of their list," she said. "But when it's abused to send a million e-mails, most likely the remove option either won't work or it will confirm you're a live person and [they will] just send you more spam."

Mandigo, who said the FTC is "looking into the whole concept of opting out," which means requesting removal from spam lists, advised recipients of excessive or illegal spam to contact their Internet service provider and forward the spam to the FTC at uce@ftc.gov.

False Assurances

Referring to the Internet-based chain letter scheme, FTC official Eileen Harrington said the federal agency is not vouching for the legitimacy of the spam scam despite the e-mail's assurance.

"This chain letter deceptively claims the program is legal and urges recruits who question its legitimacy to contact the FTC's associate director for marketing practices," Harrington said. "Well, I am the associate director for marketing practices, and these chain letters are illegal."

Pew Internet Project senior research specialist John Horrigan told NewsFactor that spam is a growing problem for Internet users, with 44 percent reporting they received spam in March 2001, compared with 33 percent in March 2000.

"[The FTC] is responding to a very real phenomenon out there," Horrigan said. "People get these e-mails, and they're not too thrilled about them."