The flood of junk e-mails peddling ”Viagra” could become a thing of the past after the drug maker Pfizer joined forces with Microsoft on Thursday to file 17 lawsuits aimed at cracking down on spammers.
The suits, filed in New York and Washington state, are targeted at operations selling cheaper ”generic” versions of the impotence drug and other Pfizer products. The companies said fake Viagra ads now account for one in four spam messages.
Brad Smith, Microsoft’s legal counsel, described the actions as ”another wake-up call to those who abuse the internet for illegal purposes”.
The companies said the action was the result of a seven month-long investigation into a number of websites advertising Viagra.
The investigation began with the site CanadianPharmacy. The companies said that their inquiries had uncovered a surprisingly sophisticated global operation, with orders received in New York, sent to call centres in Canada and fulfilled from manufacturing plants in India that make the illegal and unregulated copies.
Consumers are directed to one of many sites registered with the names and addresses of people not associated with the sites or the spammers.
CanadianPharmacy masquerades as a legitimate online pharmacy, offering cheaper regulated Canadian drugs. The cost of prescription drugs in the US has soared, making American consumers easy prey. The site also offers other drugs, including Lipitor for high cholesterol and Valium for depression.
Pfizer has filed suits against two sites, CanadianPharmacy and E-Phamarcy Direct, and actions against 10 other domain names using the Viagra brand. Microsoft filed civil actions against the spammers who send out junk e-mails to promote the sites.
In addition, Microsoft is also pressing for action against three other spammers who advertise online pharmacies under various names, including Discount RX, Virtual RX, and EzyDrugStore.com. Microsoft said that together, the spam rings had sent out hundreds of millions of e-mails to Microsoft’s MSN Hotmail customers during the past year alone.
The suits are being filed under legislation introduced into the US in 2003 — the Can-Spam Act. The senders of the emails allegedly use illegal and deceptive advertising that violates the law. Attempts in Washington to stem the spam tide have yet to make an impact. Microsoft, America Online and EarthLink have filed dozens of suits under the law. – Guardian Unlimited Â