U.S. indicts 'spam king' in stock fraud scheme
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A federal grand jury in Detroit has  indicated a Michigan man dubbed the "spam king," and 10 others,  in an international illegal bulk e-mailing and stock fraud  scheme, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.
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(InfoWorld) - A Seattle man was arrested Wednesday morning for illegal spamming activities. The arrest follows an indictment by a federal grand jury in Seattle last week. The indictment charges Robert Alan Soloway and his company, Newport Internet Marketing Corp., with fraudulently selling broadcast e-mail products and services that amounted to spam. The U.S. attorney's office for the Western District of Washington refers to Soloway as a "spam king," for the volume of unsolicited commercial e-mail his company produced. He is charged with mail fraud, identity theft, fraud, and money laundering. Soloway advertised a mass e-mail service that sent messages to an opt-in list of addresses, but didn't actually use such a permission-based list, the indictment said. He also sold software products that customers could use themselves to send out mass e-mails. However, the product often didn't work and if it did, it sent e-mails using forged headers. He also failed to offer promised support services, according to the court documents. In addition, when customers complained, Soloway threatened additional fees and referral to a collection agency. Soloway is also accused of sending out tens of millions of e-mails, often using forged e-mail addresses and domains in the "from" line, advertising his services. As a result, some people who legitimately owned the e-mail address or domain were blamed for the spam and blacklisted by Internet service providers. The indictment also said that Soloway used programs and many different proxy computers in an effort to hide the source of the messages. Soloway conducted the spamming activities at least from late 2003 through early this year, the indictment said. If convicted, Soloway faces fines of over $772,000, which is the amount he illegally obtained from his activities, as well as forfeiture of other money and property.
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The US Federal Trade Commission has given its endorsement to a plan that would reward insiders for information leading to the arrest and conviction of people or companies that produce spam.
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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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Three men from India were indicted Monday on federal charges of hacking into online brokerage accounts and pumping up stock values to turn a hefty profit for themselves, the Justice Department said.
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Six New York men were arrested and   charged with fraud and conspiracy on Friday, accused of running   a foreign exchange scam that cheated more than 230 investors   out of as much as $7 million, government officials said.
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U.S. law enforcers have arrested  dozens in a crackdown on "spam" e-mail, identity theft and  other fraudulent online activity, a person involved in the  investigation said Wednesday.
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Members of a "pump-and-dump" spam group face prison terms, civil charges filed by the SEC.
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A man accused of defrauding people through tens of millions of spam e-mail messages sent around the world was denied bail Wednesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Donohue said one of his concerns was that online crimes such as those charged against Robert Soloway &#151; dubbed the "Spam King" by federal investigators &#151; can be committed anywhere at anytime.
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A New York stockbroker was indicted on  Thursday on securities fraud and other charges in connection  with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's probe into late  trading in mutual funds, Spitzer said.
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The US is responsible for most of the spam e-mails that fill up computer inboxes, says a report.
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(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has suspended trading for 35 companies that allegedly benefited from spam e-mail campaigns to hype their stocks. The SEC action Thursday is the most suspensions of companies with stock hyped in spam, the SEC said in a news release. The suspensions, which will last for 10 business days, are part of a stepped-up SEC effort called Operation Spamalot aimed at protecting investors from potentially fraudulent spam campaigns hyping small-company stock, the SEC said. The e-mails used phrases such as "ready to explode," "ride the bull" and "fast money." The 35 companies have been quoted on the Pink Sheets over-the-counter stock service. They are not listed on any exchange or on the OTC Bulletin Board, the SEC said. The SEC estimated that 100 million such stock-trading e-mail messages are sent each week, often triggering dramatic spikes in share prices and trading volumes before the spamming stops and investors lose their money, the SEC said. "When spam clogs our mailboxes, it's annoying," SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in a statement. "When it rips off investors, it's illegal and destructive. Today's trading suspensions, and actions that will follow, should send a clear message to spammers: the SEC will hold you accountable." The SEC said it continues to investigate the source of the spam. Among the spam campaigns noted by the SEC: * On Dec. 15, shares in Apparel Manufacturing Associates closed at $0.06, with a trading volume of 3,500 shares. After a weekend spam campaign proclaiming, "Huge news expected out on APPM, get in before the wire, we're taking it all the way to $1.00," trading volume on Dec. 18, volume hit 484,568 shares with the price spiking to over $0.19 a share. Two days later the price climbed to $0.45. By Dec. 27, the price was back down to $0.10 on trading volume of 65,350 shares. * On Dec. 19, trading in Goldmark Industries closed at $0.17 on trading volume of 126,286 shares. On Dec. 20, the spam campaign started with e-mail proclaiming "GDKI IS MAKING EVERYONE BANK!" and setting a five-day price target of $2. By Dec. 28, spam boasted of a price spike of 152 percent in two days and promised a five-day price target of $1. That same day, the company's stock closed at $.35 on a volume of more than 5 million shares. By Jan. 9, the closing share price was back down to $0.15. Advanced Powerline Technologies, iPackets International, Software Effective Solutions, Sports-stuff.com, and UBA Technology are among the other companies affected by the SEC suspensions. Secure Computing, a cybersecurity software vendor, praised the SEC for its action. The 35 companies suspended represent some of the most "mass-promoted" companies, the company said. There are more than 600 stock symbols sold on the Pink Sheets and OTC Bulletin Board exchanges that have been promoted through spam in the past year, the company said in an e-mail.
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The chief executive of business software services company Smart Online , his brother and four brokers were arrested on Tuesday and charged with participating in scheme to pump up the company's stock, prosecutors said.
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Grand jury indictments A 27-year-old man, dubbed the Spam King by investigators, has been arrested in Seattle where he has been indicted on charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, fraud in connection with electronic mail, and money laundering.â¦
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A Seattle man was arrested Wednesday morning for illegal spamming activities.
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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.
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The U.S. government on Thursday charged 13 people, including employees at major Wall Street banks, with securities fraud, wire fraud, bribery and other charges in what authorities are calling one of the most pervasive insider trading rings in years.