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 Online 'mousetrapping' leads to $1.9M fine

WASHINGTON (AP) ? An elusive Internet scam artist has been ordered to pay 
almost $1.9 million back to victims and stop a scheme that used thousands of 
misspelled Web addresses to trick Internet users into seeing adult 
advertisements, federal regulators announced Friday.

Federal Trade Commission lawyers sued John Zuccarini of Andalusia, Pa., last 
October to stop the scheme. Zuccarini set up Web sites that contained 
misspellings of popular names like the Backstreet Boys, Victoria's Secret, Bank 
of America and The Wall Street Journal.

Visitors that inadvertently misspelled a site's name, like victoreasecret.com 
instead of the lingerie retailer, went to Zuccarini's site and were barraged 
with a hailstorm of pop-up ads for Internet gambling and pornography. The new 
windows returned to the screen even after they were closed, the FTC said.

"After one FTC staff member closed out of 32 separate windows, leaving just two 
windows on the task bar, he selected the 'back' button, only to watch the same 
seven windows that initiate the blitz erupt on his screen," FTC lawyers said in 
the complaint.

FTC investigators said Zuccarini makes from $800,000 to $1 million per year by 
charging advertisers whose ads appear on the browser windows.

Companies targeted by Zuccarini's scam have filed scores of complaints with 
regulators and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, an 
oversight body that handles Internet addresses. The FTC said Zuccarini has lost 
53 state and federal lawsuits and has had about 200 Web addresses taken from 
him and transferred to copyright holders.

Many of the Web sites target kids, including 15 variations on the Cartoon 
Network's Web site, and 41 variations on the name of pop singer Britney Spears.

It is unclear whether the FTC will be able to collect the money, which is 
earmarked for consumer redress.

Zuccarini never appeared on his own or through a lawyer in the Pennsylvania 
federal court handling the case, even though witnesses testified that he was 
notified of the suit.

He did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Florida lawyer Howard Neu, who 
once represented Zuccarini, said he had "not the foggiest" idea where Zuccarini 
is.

Zuccarini does business under many company names, including 22 names using the 
word "Cupcake." Victims of the scam should contact the commission at 
1-877-382-4357 and use the FTC's case name, "Cupcake Party."




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