Update: FTC cracks down on Web page selling scam

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed suit against a company that the FTC charges hawks Web presence over the phone and then charges its targets on their phone bill without their authorization.

The company, Mercury Marketing, now doing business as GoInternet.net based in Philadelphia, calls small businesses, offers a Web page or an advertisement on the Internet and tells them they are legally obligated to pay for the services, the FTC said in a statement Tuesday. Charges of $29.95 per month appear on customers’ phone bills, according to the FTC.

“They call businesses and get someone to agree to a 15-day trial offer to look at a Web site they designed for that business. Many times unbeknownst to that business the look at the site results in a $29.95 addition to the monthly telephone bill,” FTC investigator Dave Plottner said.

The charges on the phone bill often show up as “MIS Int Serv,” which people often mistake for Internet access charges, Plottner said.

The alleged scam has been going on since the late 90s and targets businesses all across the U.S. The FTC has received over 850 complaints about Mercury and its various operating names, Plottner said. In a survey of 417 customers randomly pulled from a customer list obtained from Mercury, the FTC found only one person who said he had agreed to hire Mercury to develop and maintain a Web page, he said.

In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the FTC has asked the court for a hearing and an order to halt the illegal billing practices and freeze GoInternet.net’s assets pending a ruling on the charges, according to the FTC statement. The suit also names GoInternet.net Chief Executive Officer Neal Saferstein, the FTC said.

Saferstein and GoInternet.net under its previous name Mercury Marketing in March 2001 settled similar charges with the FTC. The agency charges Saferstein and his company are violating that settlement and that the scam has “not only continued, but worsened,” according to the statement.

“The defendants are engaged in a systematic and widespread effort to defraud consumers,” the FTC said in a statement.

Mercury has already been sued for unauthorized billing by the attorney generals of North Carolina, Illinois, Arkansas and Michigan, and by the Montana Public Utilities Commission, an FTC spokeswoman said.

The alleged scam by Mercury is not unique. Other companies use telemarketers to sell listings in online business directories and Web pages, among other services, and charge their unwitting targets via the telephone bill.

Besides GoInternet.net, Mercury Marketing also operates and bills under the names Mercury Internet Services, Mercury Communications, MIS, Mercury Internet Services Wireless, Venus Voice Mail and Mercury Technologies, the FTC said.

GoInternet.net did not return calls seeking comment.