America Online said on Tuesday it had filed lawsuits this week against three identity theft gangs, seeking combined damages of $18 million and using a new law against so-called "phishers."

The online division of Time Warner Inc. said it had filed three civil suits in Alexandria's U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, charging phishing gangs with tricking its members with fake Web sites of legitimate companies to fool them into giving up personal information.

The suits were filed under Virginia's new anti-phishing statute, the Federal Lanham Act, a trademark law, and the Federal Computer Fraud & Abuse Act, an anti-spam, or junk mail law. AOL said they were the first suits filed by an Internet service provider under the Virginia law passed in July 2005.

The company is targeting gangs that they believe reside in the U.S., Germany and Romania that created "hundreds and hundreds of Web sites to mislead consumers." AOL also said it has stored "tens of thousands" of phish e-mails sent by these gangs. I am sure they are scared to tears over this civil case.

Today AOL kicks off their pay to send them commercial email program. I think at AOL you can have it their way no matter what.