How I helped nail the 'manhood' spammer - 3

In June, my police contact told me to put a date aside in my diary for late 2009 to fly to New Zealand as Shane was still intending to go to court. Luckily I didn't have to make the trip. Shane fell on his sword and agreed to pay a fine to settle his case. It cost him NZ$100,000 (approx £60,000). It was the same amount his brother Lance agreed to earlier in the year.

Not much when you consider one law enforcement official told me it was estimated the gang was making about £150,000 a month. The Federal Trade Commission in America was also on the case. They were targeting Lance and the man running the US end of the operation, Jody Smith. Earlier this week the FTC announced Smith would turn over nearly all his assets.

They also imposed a $15m fine on Lance Atkinson. It sounded impressive but Lance had already been given a $2.2m fine by the FTC in 2005. As he was living in Australia the US authorities couldn't force him to pay. Unless he is planning a trip to Disneyland the fine will remain a largely symbolic gesture.

The Elite Herbal website is no more. It has been replaced by another. Are Shane and Lance Atkinson still running spam e-mail operations? The authorities don't think so, as they are keeping an eye on them. Filters are getting better at blocking out spam but with 120 billion sent each day you only need a tiny percentage of buyers to make some serious money. And what of the Manster pills. I was tempted to try one, for research purposes obviously. My producer, Richard, wanted me to but he was over-ruled by a far greater power - my wife.