Feds Hammer Pop-up Spam Scam

D Squared • Pop-Up Blocker Pop-Ups Blocked • Feds Hammer Pop-up Spam Scam

November 6, 2003
A U.S. district court has issued a temporary restraining order against D Squared Solutions, LLC, an operation that barraged numerous consumers’ computers with repeated Windows Messenger Service pop up ads – most of which advertised software that would block future pop-ups.

The defendants repeatedly sent messages – as frequently as every 10 minutes – instructing consumers to visit Web sites that state that the barrage of pop ups could be stopped by purchasing software at a cost of $25 to $30.

By using the Windows Messenger Service, the defendants caused their pop ups to appear on consumers’ computer screens even when consumers were not browsing the Internet, the Federal Trade Commission charged. According to the FTC, consumers can stop the pop-ups by changing the default setting on their Windows operating system.

“This is nothing more than a high-tech version of a classic scam,” said Howard Beales, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The defendants created the problem that they proposed to solve – for a fee. Their pop-up spam wasted computer users’ time and caused them needless frustration.”

The complaint announced today was filed against the following defendants, all of whom are based in San Diego, California: D Squared Solutions, LLC; and Anish Dhingra and Jeffrey Davis.

The Commission contends that the defendants effectively co-opted a network administration feature of Microsoft Windows known as Messenger Service, a component designed to provide network administrators with the ability to provide instant information to users. An example of such a message is the one that can be provided to network users to let them know that a print job has been completed successfully. The Windows system comes with the Messenger Service automatically in the “on” position, but it can be over-ridden by consumers on their individual computers.

The defendants allegedly caused Messenger Service windows to pop up on consumers’ computer screens – as often as every 10 minutes – advertising software that would supposedly block future pop-up spam messages from occurring. According to the FTC, the defendants placed their pop-up ads near the center of users’ computer screens, blocking the user’s work.

The ads appeared as long as the users were connected to the Internet, leading to particular trouble for users with DSL lines or cable modems who were continually on the Web. The FTC alleges that these users continued to be bombarded by the pop-ups, even when they were off of the Internet and working in other applications such as word-processing or spreadsheet programs.

Finally, the defendants allegedly either sold or licensed their pop-up-sending software to others, enabling them to engage in the same conduct. The defendants’ Web site allegedly offered software that would allow buyers to send pop-ups to 135,000 Internet addresses per hour, along with a database of more than two billion unique addresses.

In filing the complaint, the FTC sought and received immediately ex-parte relief to halt the defendants’ practices. The Commission also is seeking other relief to protect consumers from the defendants’ allegedly unfair conduct.

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