TWO Britons helped to mastermind an Internet pornography scam that left shocked households facing telephone call charges running into hundreds of dollars, the US Government alleged yesterday.

The Federal Trade Commission claimed that Robert Green and Marilyn Shein were involved in an elaborate scheme that allowed Internet users to access online pornography without paying by credit card. Instead, the Internet user was issued with a separate bill for long-distance telephone calls to Madagascar, made using their PC’s modem.

The FTC said customers who had never called Madagascar were presented with bills by Verity International, the Dublin-registered company owned by Mr Green and Ms Shein. The $3.99 per minute calls made by the computer modem to access the sexual images did not even go to Madagascar, the FTC said.

A lawyer acting for Verity denied they did anything wrong, saying that all the telephone charges were clearly labelled before the service was used.

Mr Green and Ms Shein, who live in the UK, have been the subject of controversy before, running a phone sex service that routed calls through Sierra Leone.