British junk fax firm pursued over $1m fine

A controversial British phone company is being pursued by the US Justice Department for failing to pay a $1.1m fine, in the latest scandal to hit the premium-rate phone line industry.

The company, 21st Century Faxes, was fined $1.1m (£726,000) eight months ago after a powerful US regulator found it guilty of illegally sending out hundreds of unsolicited faxes.

The Federal Communications Commission took action after the firm ignored a formal warning, issued in March 2000, to stop sending unsolicited junk faxes.

But the company, which is run from offices in Essex and London by a convicted fraudster, Gordon Ritchie, has yet to pay the fine. Mr Ritchie claimed that the FCC has no power to prosecute 21st Century as the faxes were sent from Britain and were therefore outside US jurisdiction.

But the FCC has now confirmed that it has asked the Department of Justice to take over collecting the fine. It is understood the matter is being treated as a criminal case.

The case is the latest in a series of legal actions and warnings over the premium-rate fax-back services run by Mr Ritchie, convicted of a £1.5m mortgage fraud in the mid-1990s, and his close associate Anthony Moore. Their firms specialise in sending unwanted faxes to businesses, offering allegedly free directories and other services.

But these can be reached only by dialling phone and fax lines charging up to £1.50 a minute. In many cases, the information offered can be easily found elsewhere.