Fighting malware and spam

US spammers arrested

Airport arrest for 18-year-old spammer, and felony charge for SMS election spammer

An 18-year-old New Yorker is under investigation this week for sending more than one million spam messages.

18-year-old Anthony Greco, who is accused of sending approx. 1.5 million unsolicited emails to customers of online networking forum MySpace.com, was arrested when he arrived at Los Angeles International Airport.

Greco is believed to have created thousands of user accounts on MySpace.com and used them to send unsolicited emails to members of the website.

Not content with that, after sending the spam emails, Greco contacted the owners of MySpace.com and requested that he be given exclusive rights to send commercial email through the site. However, when his request was ignored Greco tried to blackmail the company by threatening to share his spamming techniques with others.

Meanwhile, also in California, a failed council candidate was arrested this week for hacking into a mobile phone network and sending unsolicited SMS messages.

David Avila - who already has a reputation for intimidation - is accused of hacking into Verizon's text messaging network to send SMS messages urging voters to elect him.

The messages, which read 'Please vote for Daniel Avila for Thousand Oaks City Council', were also sent in such a way that they appeared to be from one of Avila's opponents and arrived in the early hours of the morning.

Avila is now under investigation for felony computer fraud, identity theft, false impersonation and election fraud.

Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Marc Leventhal said 'Basically [Avila] was able to send his text message to thousands of subscribers, and he had to fool the Verizon network into accepting those messages ... [tricked] the network into believing it wasn't spam.'

Avila's well earned reputation for intimidation first came to light when he wielded a hatchet at a Planning Commission meeting. During a subsequent event, he distributed fliers advocating sexual attacks on President Bush's daughters and the president's assassination. In October, Avila blared obscenities from a bullhorn at a candidate's forum and waved a paper he said showed his recent purchase of a gun. In January, Avila was fined $200 for breach of peace.

Avila was released on bail after posting a $50,000 bond. His arraignment is scheduled for 4 March 2005.

18 February 2005

Tags: spam