U.S. Shuts Down "Bait and Switch" Spam Scam

The U.S. government said it had shut down an e-mail scam that promised free video-game consoles but instead delivered a connection to a pornographic Web site that charged $3.99 a minute. The case is one of the most egregious examples yet of the deceptive junk e-mail known as "spam," the Federal Trade Commission said.