The phone call was suspicious from the start. "Hi, I'm calling to verify your address so we can resend a package you requested." I didn't remember requesting any package, so I started asking questions. What company did she represent? How did she get my phone number?

She said she was from Mercury Internet Services and I was being offered a "15-day free trial" of Web advertising, along with an e-mail account and Internet access. I said no, thanks, and hung up. Then I started digging--and discovered a web of another sort.

Mercury poisoning
Mercury is a Philadelphia telemarketing company that goes by a variety of names, including Mercury Marketing, MIS Internet, GoInternet.net, I4mation.com, Mercury Wireless, Mercury Technologies, and Venus Voice-mail. All employ the same MO: They call and ask if you want to receive a "free trial" package. If you agree, the package arrives a few days later.

Most people toss the package without opening it. But buried inside is a warning that if you don't call Mercury and cancel within 15 days, the company will add a $25 to $30 charge to your monthly phone bill.

Over the next two months, I received four more phone calls from Mercury. Finally, I agreed to receive the package. Here's what I got:

• A letter introducing me to the service with my account information;
• A three-page printout of the most hideous Web page I have ever seen, complete with awful clip art and inaccurate information;
• A page listing terms and conditions on one side, with about 1,100 dial-up numbers listed in tiny type on the back.

Surprisingly, the Web page really existed and the dial-up numbers worked. But I was never able to access my e-mail account, and every message I sent to my Mercury address bounced. When I called "tech support" (a guy named Bryan), he couldn't answer even basic questions about the service, such as how much e-mail storage Mercury provided.

C is for contempt
As it turns out, Mercury has been pushing this "service" for quite a while. Back in March 2001, the FTC ordered the company and its founder, Neal D. Saferstein, to alter its business practices and refund consumers' money. Since then, FTC investigator Dave Plottner says the agency has received more than 800 complaints from people who say they were billed by Mercury for services they never requested. On July 30 of this year, the FTC filed a contempt action against Mercury, claiming Mercury violated the March 2001 order.

During its investigation, the FTC surveyed 417 customers of Mercury. Exactly one customer remembered ordering the service. More than 70 percent were unaware they were being billed each month.

The feds aren't the only ones on Mercury's trail. At press time, the company was being sued by attorneys general in Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, and North Carolina, as well as by the Montana Public Utilities Commission.

Saferstein and his attorney, Tom Harty, dispute the claims. "We don't believe there's any evidence we've done anything wrong, and we're prepared to defend our position in court," Harty says. "All of our customer purchases are verified, and this information is available to every investigative authority."

Plottner says that if the judge agrees with the FTC, Mercury could be fined, dismantled, or banned from telemarketing. Even then, we may not have seen the last of Saferstein. His Mercury Long Distance subsidiary--not covered by any of the aforementioned suits--is registered to sell phone services in at least a dozen states.

The moral of the story? If a stranger calls and asks to send you information you didn't ask for, just hang up. Better yet, find out who they are and report them to the FTC and your state attorney general's office. You'll be doing us all a favor.