Another 'Spam King' arrested
Spammer brought to book after 4-year campaign.
A Seattle man was indicted yesterday on numerous charges of fraud and deception in relation to a campaign
of spamming dating back to 2003. Charges include mail fraud, identity theft and credit card fraud, as well
as violation of email regulations.
Among his offences is charging companies for his services in sending out legitimate marketing emails, in the
belief that his targets were genuine opt-in addresses, rather than spam victims. He is also thought to have
used sizeable botnets of zombie computers to increase his spamming rate.
With tens of millions of emails sent out and over 50 domains used to promote his various fraudulent companies,
the man, Robert Soloway, has inevitably been dubbed 'The Spam King', following in the footsteps of other
Spam Kings such as the notorious Scott Richter and Sanford 'Spamford' Wallace.
The charges faced by Soloway could carry sentences of up to five years in jail, although cumulative sentencing
for all counts could add up to 65 years, and fines of $250,00 are being sought, along with seized
earnings of over $722,000. More details of the case are in a US Department of Justice press release,
here.
01 June 2007
Tags:
legal, spam, spam king.
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