The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is picking up its pace in the battle against spamming. On the whole, retailers are very supportive of these efforts because legitimate firms generally do not spam — yet, their messages are often lost/ignored in the blizzard of spam. Estimates of spam as a percentage of all E-mail range from 60% to much higher.

These are some of the actions being undertaken by the FTC:

• There is a dedicated E-mail address for spam complains — “Forward unsolicited commercial email (spam), including phishing messages, directly to the FTC at spam@uce.gov. These messages will be stored in a database law enforcement agencies use in their investigations.”

• There is a text message spam site for consumers: “Text message spam is a triple threat: It often uses the promise of free gifts or product offers to get you to reveal personal information; it can lead to unwanted charges on your cell phone bill; and it can slow cell phone performance. It’s illegal to send unsolicited commercial email messages to wireless devices, including cell phones and pagers, unless the sender gets your permission first.”

• There are more investigations involving spam, such as this one — “The Federal Trade Commission has moved to shut down an international network of scammers that sent millions of unwanted text messages to consumers, using the lure of “free” gift cards and electronics to entice consumers into an elaborate scheme designed to take their money and target them for illegal robocalls. In its complaint, the FTC alleges that scammers sent unwanted text messages to consumers, many of whom had to pay for receiving the texts. The messages promised consumers free gifts or prizes, including gift cards worth $1,000 to major retailers such as Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Target.”

• It has an easy-to-use site to file a complaint.

Click the image for an FTC video on spamming.