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Senior Citizen Alerts
Spammers Hit for Peddling HGH as Anti-Aging, Hoodia
for Weight Loss
FTC says e-mails falsely claim HGH products reverse aging process
 Aug.
24, 2007 – Once again the Federal Trade Commission is clamping down on a
company selling human growth hormone (HGH) as an anti-aging product.
This time, they are also halting the same spammers from sending
"unwanted and illegal" e-mails about hoodia weight-loss products. A
district court judge ordered a halt to the e-mails and to the claims
that the FTC says are false and unsubstantiated.
According to the FTC’s complaint, the illegal
e-mails drove traffic to the defendants’ Web sites. Those sites sold two
types of products under a variety of names.
● Pills that allegedly contained hoodia gordonii
and caused significant weight loss were sold under names such as
“HoodiaHerbal” and “Hoodia Maximum Strength.”
● So-called “natural” products that were supposed
to elevate a user’s human growth hormone (HGH) level and thereby
dramatically reverse the aging process were sold under names that
included “Perfect HGH” and “Dr-HGH.”
According to the FTC complaint, the defendants
falsely claimed that their supposed “hoodia” products cause rapid and
substantial weight loss, including as much as forty pounds in a month;
cause users to lose safely three or more pounds per week for multiple
weeks; and cause permanent weight loss. In fact, the weight-loss claims
were false.
The complaint also charges that the defendants
falsely claimed that their supposed HGH products would contain human
growth hormone and/or cause a clinically meaningful increase in a
consumer’s growth hormone levels.
According to the FTC, the defendants also falsely
claimed that their HGH products would turn back or reverse the aging
process, including: lowering blood pressure, reducing cellulite,
improving vision, causing new hair growth, improving sleep, improving
emotional stability, speeding injury recovery, relieving chronic pain,
increasing muscle mass, and causing fat and weight loss.
The FTC’s spam database has received over 85,000
spam messages sent on behalf of the operation. According to court
documents filed by the FTC, many of these e-mail messages were sent
using Web form hijacking – a particularly insidious form of spamming. In
Web form hijacking, the spammer injects the spam message into form
fields on an innocent, third-party Web site (often a "Contact Us" form).
The message uses the resources of and appears, deceptively, to come from
the victim Web site operator’s mail server. This is the first time the
Commission has filed a case against spammers using this tactic.
The FTC alleges that the operation violated the
Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act
of 2003 “CAN-SPAM Act” by initiating commercial e-mails that: contained
materially false and misleading header information; contained deceptive
subject headings; failed to provide clear and conspicuous opt-out links;
and failed to include a physical postal address.
The complaint was filed against Sili
Neutraceuticals, LLC and Brian McDaid, individually and doing business
as Kaycon, Ltd. The federal district court judge ordered an ex parte
temporary restraining order and asset freeze. A hearing is scheduled for
August 27, 2007 to determine whether to extend the halt to the
defendants’ claims and the asset freeze until the Commission’s case is
resolved. The FTC ultimately seeks to permanently bar them from further
violations and make them forfeit their ill-gotten gains.
The Commission vote to authorize staff to file the
complaint was 5-0. The complaint and temporary restraining order were
filed under seal in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Illinois.
Editor's Notes:
The Commission files a complaint when it has
“reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it
appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest.
The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendant has actually
violated the law. The case will be decided by the court.
The FTC says it works for the consumer to prevent
fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide
information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in
English or Spanish, click
http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The
FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other
fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online
database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement
agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
For free information on a variety of consumer
topics, click
http://ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.
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