Spammer Jailed, Fines Issued In Landmark Case
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Nov 03, 2004 -- A Loudoun County Circuit Court jury convicted a brother and sister from North Carolina on three counts each of sending spam and acquitted the third co-defendant in the nationâs first felony spam trial that ended Wednesday.
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Eleven people, including one of the top spammers in the world, were indicted on Thursday for allegedly sending millions of unsolicited e-mails intended to inflate the price of Chinese penny stocks.The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) called the scheme one of the largest spamming and fraud operations in the U.S. The 41-count indictment charges the defendants with conspiracy, several types of fraud, and money laundering.The indictment alleges the group sent spam via botnets, or networks of hacked computers. A three-year investigation revealed the e-mails, which implored investors to buy cheap stocks, contained fake headers and other misleading information, the DOJ said.After the price of a stock increased, the defendants sold at the artificially inflated price, a practice known as a&#160;pump-and-dump&#160;scam, according to the indictment. In mid-2005, the stock spam netted the defendants around $3 million, the DOJ said.Those charged include Alan M. Ralsky, 52, of West Bloomfield, Michigan. Spamhaus, a London-based organization that tracks spamming operations, listed&#160;Ralsky as one of the top professional spammers&#160;in the world. Also indicted was Ralsky&#39;s son-in-law, Scott K. Bradley, 46.Ralsky settled with Verizon after being sued in 2002 over spam. Ralsky and his company, Additional Benefits, agreed to pay Verizon and to stop sending spam on Verizon&#39;s network.Three of the 11 accused have been detained, and the rest -- including Ralsky -- are being sought, the DOJ said.
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By Kyung M. Song and Jennifer Sullivan, Seattle Times  May 31--With the arrest Wednesday of a Seattle man accused of sending out tens of millions of spam e-mails, federal prosecutors say that computer users across the globe should see a significant drop in spam messages.
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Three people have pleaded guilty to charges related to spam e-mail that promised U.S. victims millions of dollars from an estate and a lottery, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.In one scenario, the defendants sent e-mails purporting to be from an individual suffering from terminal throat cancer who needed assistance distributing approximately $55 million to charity, the DOJ said.The three defendants, two from Nigeria and one from Senegal, sent spam e-mail to thousands of potential victims, in which they falsely claimed to control millions of dollars located abroad, the DOJ said in a press release. The fraud victims lost $1.2 million by giving the defendants advance fees, the DOJ said.Pleading guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York were Nnamdi Chizuba Anisiobi, whose aliases include Yellowman, Abdul Rahman, Michael Anderson, Edmund Walter, Nancy White, Jiggaman, and Namo, age 31, of Nigeria; Anthony Friday Ehis, also known as John J. Smith, Toni N. Amokwu, and Mr. T, age 34, of Senegal; and Kesandu Egwuonwu, also known as KeKe, Joey Martin Maxwell, David Mark, and Helmut Schkinger, age 35, of Nigeria.Anisiobi pled guilty to one count of conspiracy, eight counts of wire fraud, and one count of mail fraud. Ehis pled guilty to one count of conspiracy and five counts of wire fraud. Egwuonwu pled guilty to one count of conspiracy, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of mail fraud.The maximum penalty for mail and wire fraud is 20 years in prison. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.A fourth defendant, Lenn Nwokeafor, fled to Nigeria and was subsequently arrested by the Nigerian Economic &amp; Financial Crimes Commission on July 27, 2006. He is being held by the Nigerian authorities pending extradition to the United States, the DOJ said.In the throat cancer scheme, the defendants offered to give a 20 percent commission to the victim, or a charity of his or her choice, in exchange for the victim&#39;s help. The defendants would send a variety of fraudulent documents, including a &quot;letter of authority&quot; or a &quot;certificate of deposit,&quot; making it appear that the promised funds were available, as well as pictures of an individual claiming to suffer from throat cancer, the DOJ said.Defendant Anisiobi allegedly telephoned victims, disguising his voice to give the impression that he was suffering from throat cancer.After obtaining their victims&#8217; trust, the defendants asked them to wire-transfer payment for a variety of advance fees for legal representation, taxes, and additional documentation. The victims then received nothing back, the DOJ said.In some cases, if the victims said they could not afford to pay the advance fees, the defendants would send them counterfeit checks, supposedly from a cancer patient, to cover those fees. Many victims deposited the checks and then drew on them to wire-transfer the advance fees. When the checks did not clear, the victims suffered substantial losses, the DOJ said.&quot;Online scam artists should be on notice that we will continue to work closely with our international partners to ensure that there are no safe geographic boundaries for committing these crimes,&quot; Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher of the DOJ&#39;s Criminal Division said in a statement.The investigation was initiated by Dutch law enforcement authorities, who notified the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which opened its own investigation. The three who pled guilty were arrested in Amsterdam on Feb, 21, 2006.
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LEESBURG, VA. -- Bail was set at $1 million for a Raleigh man awaiting sentencing in the nation&#39;s first felony prosecution of illegal distribution of spam.
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A United States man convicted of violating anti-spam laws by sending out tens of thousands of unsolicited emails using fake addresses faces nine years in prison in Virginia.
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A US federal judge has ordered a man dubbed the Spam King to disable so-called spyware programs. US District Judge Joseph DiClerico issued a temporary restraining order against one of the world&#39;s worst spammers
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A brother and sister who sent unsolicited junk e-mail to millions of America Online customers were convicted Wednesday in the nation&#39;s first felony prosecution of distributors of spam.
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A conman who sent millions of junk emails has been jailed for nine years in the first prosecution of its kind. Jeremy Jaynes, 30, was found guilty, along with his sister
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A law firm in Colorado has been fined by federal court after a spam filter intercepted an important court notice.
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A Loudoun County jury convicted two North Carolina residents of violating Virginia&#39;s anti-spam law yesterday, a decision that likely will become a landmark in the nation&#39;s growing crusade against unwanted e-mail.
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Antispam activists disagree about the effect of the major federal court judgment against three spammers. Antispam activists disagree about whether a $1.08 billion judgment against three spammers in Iowa last
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The suits include the first filed by America Online against spammers who use instant messaging, a practice the online industry calls spimming.
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A Florida man and his company will pay a $25,000 fine to settle a spam lawsuit brought in Massachusetts in the first use by a state of the federal CAN-SPAM Act.
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Two men behind a spam ring that sent millions of pornographic mails are the first to be convicted under new federal spam laws, the Justice Department said.
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A MAN convicted of violating anti-spam laws by sending out tens of thousands of unsolicited emails using fake addresses faces nine years in prison in Virginia, US authorities say.
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Text of report by Radio TV Hong Kong Radio 3 audio website on 28 May  Starting from Friday [1 June], people who send electronic spam could be jailed for five years and fined 1m dollars [approx 128,000 US].