Those clues helped Microsoft trace e-mails across 34 countries, identify the senders and file lawsuits against 15 people and businesses accused of sending more than 2 billion deceptive e-mails that flooded Microsoft's computer systems and customers' inboxes.

"Every spam e-mail has many things that are false, but usually there is one piece of the e-mail that is true," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel. "That true fact is, if you will, a thread that they can start to pull on and they can start to trace things backward. They can follow e-mail across servers and eventually get to the place where it started."

Redmond-based Microsoft on Tuesday announced the 15 lawsuits, filed Monday and Tuesday in Washington state and the United Kingdom against defendants who allegedly sent junk e-mails offering everything from body enhancements to pornographic photos.

The company is seeking court orders to stop the spammers and requests unspecified monetary damages, Smith said.

In all but the two U.K. cases, Microsoft is suing the defendants under Washington state's anti-spam law, considered one of the toughest in the country, for flooding Microsoft's computer systems and customers with more than 2 billion deceptive unsolicited e-mail messages. Twelve of the lawsuits were filed in King County Superior Court in Washington state. One was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, where the defendant lives. Two others, which cite violations of U.K. privacy laws, were filed in London's Royal Courts of Justice.

The 15 lawsuits address some of the most misleading, deceptive and offensive spam e-mail received by Microsoft customers, but Microsoft may file additional suits, Smith said.

According to Microsoft, the defendants sent out unsolicited e-mails with deceptive subject lines and spoofed addresses. The e-mails advertised adult Web sites, offered dating services, and even advertised a compact disc detailing how to become a high-volume spammer. Some also violated trademark laws, Microsoft said, by pretending to be e-mail from Microsoft advising recipients that a virus had been detected on their computer and they go to the defendant's Web site.

The defendants are: Email Gold Inc., Linda Jean Lightfoot, Eddie Davis and NetGold Inc., Dayton, Ohio; The E-Offer Store, Haddonfield, N.J.; Giantlinks Inc. and PlanetClick Holding Co., New York; Global Media Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Interweb Hosting LLC, Philip Adelberg, Interweb Hosting Inc. and IWH, Pittsburgh; RHC Direct LLC, Murray, Utah; Rockin Time Holdings Inc., Miami; TranzActMedia Inc., New York; VMS Inc. and Proform4Life Inc., Port Richey, Fla.; XPAYS Inc., San Francisco; PointCom Inc., Joshuathan Investments, Canoga Park, Calif., and Belize City, Belize; and four John Does in the United States and United Kingdom.

Representatives of the companies either could not be located for comment or did not return messages left by The Associated Press Tuesday.

Washington state's anti-spam law bans bulk or commercial e-mail with misleading information in the subject line, invalid reply addresses or disguised paths of transmission. It allows for damages of at least $500 per message for individuals and $1,000 for Internet service providers.

Microsoft earlier this year had sought to weaken provisions of the law by capping the amount that could be awarded to $25,000 a day. The bill died, and Microsoft spokesman Sean Sundwall said the effort was to protect Internet service providers like Microsoft from people who sought to hold the providers accountable for the spam.

But the big-dollar penalty actually was one of the reasons Microsoft decided to sue under Washington's anti-spam law, said Tim Cranton, Microsoft's senior corporate attorney.

Attorney General Christine Gregoire, who attended the announcement to lend her support, said spam costs businesses and consumers billions of dollars a year and is threatening people's trust in doing business online with legitimate companies, she said.

"We need an aggressive, sustained and comprehensive assault by industry, government and consumers to stop spam," she said. "Today's lawsuits are exactly the kinds of action we need to put illegal spammers out of business."

Unwanted computer e-mail is the top consumer complaint in her office, Gregoire said.

The lawsuits are part of a high-profile campaign by Microsoft to deter spammers. Microsoft earlier this year set up accounts on its Hotmail free Internet service to collect spam. From there, investigators started pulling apart the junk e-mails, trying to find the clues that would lead them to the senders, said Stirling McBride, Microsoft senior investigator.

Some of the cases took only a few weeks to identify the source, he said, but others took a few months.

Investigators relied primarily on information that was publicly available - such as Web site registrations, and contact names and numbers for companies, said Cranton.

In London, meanwhile, Jean-Phillipe Courtois, senior vice president and CEO of Microsoft Europe, Middle East and Africa, announced a regional anti-spam initiative that includes the two lawsuits alleging the unlawful gathering of e-mail account names, in violation of U.K. law.

For More Information:

Federal Trade Commission -- www.ftc.gov
Or, send complaints to the ftc at uce@ftc.gov
Washington Attorney General Office -- www.wa.gov