CAN-SPAM: A study in “mask” communication

We loved Scooby-Doo as much as the next person, but each episode seemed to end the same way. Just when Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Daphne nabbed the culprit, he took off a mask to disclose his identity – or so we thought until he removed yet another mask to reveal who he really was. The FTC has filed a lawsuit against an operation that allegedly used illegal spam and fake news sites to peddle purported diet products and employed multiple online “masks” to deceive consumers about what they’re really up to.

Florida-based Colby Fox, Christopher Reinhold, Tachht, Inc., and Teqqi LLC sold Original Pure Forskolin, Original White Kidney Bean, and Mango Boost Cleanse on their websites. They also promoted their products through affiliate marketers, who steered consumers to the defendants’ sites and got a cut of the sales their links generate. One common tactic used by the defendants and their affiliates is to send what the complaint calls “unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages,” but they don’t look like garden variety spam.