from www.businessreviewaustralia.com – Scott Gregory Phillips, a Brisbane man responsible for creating a fake dating operation, was fined a hefty $2 million by the Federal Court Wednesday for violating the Spam Act.

The 35-year-old former porn site operator was in charge of an operation called Safedivert that established fake dating website profiles to obtain mobile telephone numbers of genuine dating website users.

These mobile phone numbers were then sent text messages from people pretending to want to chat with a view to meet and form a relationship with the recipient. The victims who responded to the messages were charged approximately $5 per message.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority, who is responsible for enforcing the Spam Act, claims that the scheme cost Australian mobile phone users in excess of $4 million from late 2005 until November 2008.

“The size of the penalties awarded in this case are an indication of how seriously the courts treat breaches of the Spam Act, which is very encouraging,” said ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman. The $2 million penalty is in addition to $22.25 million imposed on seven other respondents last year, bringing the total amount of penalties in this matter to $24.25 million.

When delivering his judgment, Justice Logan said “The conduct was undoubtedly deliberate. IMP and its agent Jobspy, which employed IMP’s modus of operation, engaged in concerted deception. Mr Phillips’ involvement in the deception was at the most senior level. He was the controller of IMP.”

Under the Spam Act 2003, it is illegal to send, or cause to be sent, unsolicited commercial electronic messages. The Act covers email, instant messaging, SMS and MMS of a commercial nature.