A 17-year-old boy has been charged with using spam emails and a fake AOL web page to trick people out of their credit card information and to steal thousands of dollars.

The teenager, who cannot be identified because of his age, has been hit with a lifetime ban on sending spam by US regulators and has agreed to pay back $3,500 he stole.

It is the first enforcement action the Federal Trade Commission has taken against such an internet scam that used junk email to lure people to look-alike web sites, where they are deceived into handing over personal financial data.

FTC commissioner Mozelle Thompson said: "We're only beginning to discover the extent of these emails. They're only beginning to proliferate right now."

During the case it was revealed the teenager's emails told recipients they needed to update their AOL billing information and instructed them to click on a hyperlink connected to the "AOL Billing Center." The link diverted people to a phoney AOL web site that contained the company's logo and links to real AOL web pages, the FTC alleged.

There, they were instructed to enter their credit card numbers, along with mothers' maiden names, billing addresses, social security numbers, bank routing numbers, credit limits, personal identification numbers and AOL screen names and passwords.

A representative of AOL's parent company, media conglomerate AOL Time Warner, was not immediately available for comment.

The teenager used his newfound information to go on an online shopping spree and to log on to AOL in his victims' names and send more spam. He also recruited other people to take delivery of fraudulently obtained merchandise he had ordered.

An FBI official said the agency gets about 9,000 complaints a month about phoney emails and web sites. Officials said there were more such cases using the same methods under investigation but provided no firm numbers.

In March, internet service provider EarthLink said it had blocked such a scam that sought to collect credit card and bank account numbers from its customers. Many EarthLink subscribers received an email message urging them to resubmit their personal information or face termination of their accounts, due to a "recent system flush."