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AOL uses anti-phishing law to target ID thieves
Gangs of new media...

By Reuters

Published: Tuesday 28 February 2006

AOL has filed lawsuits against three alleged identity-theft gangs, using a new anti-phishing law to seek combined damages of $18m.

The online division of Time Warner said on Tuesday it had filed three civil suits in Alexandria's US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, charging the three groups with tricking AOL members by using fake websites of legitimate companies to fool them into giving up personal information.

The suits were filed under Virginia's new anti-phishing statute, a federal trademark law called the Lanham Act, and a federal anti-spam law called the Federal Computer Fraud & Abuse Act.

AOL said they were the first suits filed by an ISP under the Virginia law passed in July 2005.

The company is targeting groups it believes reside in the US, Germany and Romania that created "hundreds and hundreds of websites to mislead consumers". AOL also said it has stored "tens of thousands" of emails sent by the groups.