ยท J.K. Publications Inc., MJD Service Corp., Herbal Care Inc., Discreet Bill Inc. Earlier this month, the FTC announced it had won a $37.5 million verdict against Kenneth and Teresa Taves, Dennis Rappaport and their businesses. The government charged the defendants billed customers without authorization for alleged visits to adult Web sites. The FTC said the defendants had purchased access to a database of credit card numbers provided by Charter Pacific Bank of Agoura Hills, Calif. The defendants illegally used the account numbers to place charges on the accounts. The FTC said over 90 percent of the defendants' $49 million a year in "sales" were actually unauthorized charges. U.S. District Court Judge Audrey B. Collins said "a shocking 40 percent- to-50 percent of the calls received by the defendants were from people who said they did not have a computer and had not given their credit card numbers to anyone."
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