Social networking site Tagged. com has been charged by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, allegedly for spamming and stealing identities from sixty million of its users by sending illegal e-mails to steal their personal contact lists with a view to catch new users.

The 60 million e-mails that were sent to people were made to appear to come from their friends but actually they were sent by Tagged. com, which forced recipients to become members of Tagged. com if they wanted to access the ostensible photos.

On the other hand, Greg Tseng, Tagged. com CEO claims that the site did not access peoples' address books without their consent.

However, Tseng accepted that the language used to guide users during registration was a bit confusing.

Tseng wrote in a blog, "The registration drive generated some complaints."

Tseng further informed that new registration scheme was stopped by Tagged on June 7. Tagged also e-mailed new members to guide them how to quit Tagged.

Nevertheless, the Attorney General's office said it would impede Tagged from engaging in deceptive practices and would fine Tagged for invation of privacy.