The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said Thursday it has closed down a spam operation in California that sent millions of unwanted messages to online users across the country and fined the companies involved about $2.4 million.

The settlement was reached between the FTC and the two companies, Optin Global, and Vision Media, along with Los Angeles residents, Qing Kuang “Rick” Yang, and Peonie Pui Ting Chen. The two companies are based in California but incorporated in Delaware.

According to the FTC, the two companies used third-party affiliates or “button pushers” to send spam-hawking mortgage loans and other products. The links in the spam email eventually sent consumers to web sites operated by the defendants.

Eventually, the FTC received some 1.8 million email messages from the public as complaints.

The $2.4 million in penalties the FTC imposed represented the spammers’ “ill-gotten gains,” the FTC said. But based on the financial records of the defendants, the judgment will be suspended upon payment of $385,000 in cash and about $90,000 from the sale of real property, the agency said.

The FTC settlement doesn’t shut down the businesses but does stop them from sending spam. It also requires the companies to beef up their bookkeeping and record keeping requirements to allow the agencies to monitor compliance.

Optin Global and Vision Media could not be reached for comment.

Spam Moving OffshoreThe FTC’s efforts to crack down on spam may only end up pushing spammers offshore, said industry experts.

“The FTC is going through the motions and doing what they are supposed to be doing,” said Joel Smith, chief technology officer, AppRiver, an email security and management solutions provider. “But this just gets the low level guys here and pushes the other spammers to move to other countries.”

Though the U.S. still ranks No. 1 when it comes to sending spam, increasingly countries like China, Korea, and France are moving up in the rankings. Spammers from China, which now ranks third on the list, produced some 15.7 percent of spam worldwide from April to September of last year, nearly twice the amount during the same period in 2004 (see China: Farewell Spam!).

AppRiver estimates that about 13 percent of spam currently originating from the U.S. is moving offshore every year.

“For other countries, hosting the spammers is a great business, many of whom are making promises like bulletproof web hosting, which offers to keep your web site up no matter what,” said Mr. Smith.

Experts said that while the FTC’s effort shows the federal anti-spam legislation can be enforced, it also underscores the need for the U.S. government officials to work closely with their counterparts in other countries if they want to really curb the problem.