http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/1510
Spammers ordered to pay $37 mill in civil penalties
Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2005-10-12 10:09. Internet
A Superior Court judge has ordered Boston area "spammers" to permanently shutdown dozens of illegal websites and pay $37 million in civil penalties. The spammers, sued by AG Reilly in May, transmitted millions of unsolicited and deceptive email messages to peddle unapproved counterfeit drugs, pirated software and pornography.
The judgment, issued by Suffolk Superior Court Judge D. Lloyd MacDonald, stems from a May 2005 lawsuit AG Reilly filed against Leo Kuvayev and six other individuals with Massachusetts ties accused of running an elaborate "spam" operation in violation of state and federal consumer protection laws. Kuvayev, the ring-leader, listed a Newton address as his residence, and he and his associates used a Boston post office box address for their business operations.
Kuvayev’s scheme involved a complicated web of Internet sites and domain names selling a variety of illegal products including counterfeit drugs, pirated software, pornography, mortgage loans and phony designer watches. AG Reilly’s investigation, coupled with information provided by the Microsoft Corporation, found that Kuvayev and the defendants regularly and rapidly shifted domain names and websites to different Internet addresses.
The judgment found that Kuvayev and his associates engaged in a pattern of unfair and deceptive practices that violated the federal CAN-SPAM Act. The federal CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) went into effect in January 2004. The law does not ban spam, but does require that unsolicited commercial email be accurate and honest, and that consumers be able to stop receiving the same spam over and over. The law requires that unsolicited commercial email messages be conspicuously identified as advertisements or solicitations, that the "header" information on the email -- including information on who the email is from and the subject of the email -- be accurate, that the email provide a valid postal address, and that the email provide a functional return email address so that recipients can request that they not receive future messages from the sender -- commonly referred to as an "opt out" function. The law also requires the sender to place warning labels on emails that contain sexually oriented material.
http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/131
Student Targeted In Probe Ranked As One Of World's Worst Spammers
Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2005-01-14 20:59. Internet
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today filed the state’s first lawsuit against one of the world’s largest spam operations in an effort to crack down on the massive flow of illegal e-mail into Texas consumers’ in-boxes. Ryan Samuel Pitylak, a University of Texas at Austin student, and Mark Stephen Trotter of California, are named in the Attorney General’s federal complaint as controlling PayPerAction L.L.C., Leadplex L.L.C. and Leadplex Inc., three companies registered in Nevada. One watchdog group, SpamHaus.org, ranks the defendants as the fourth largest illegal spam operation in the world. Spam is one of the most aggravating and pervasive problems facing consumers today,” said Attorney General Abbott. “Unwanted, unsolicited e-mail clogs computers of Texas consumers and Texas businesses, wasting precious time and money. Texans are fed up, and today’s action aims to give them relief by shutting down one of the world’s worst spam operations.” Today’s complaint was filed under the federal Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (CAN-SPAM), which carries penalties of $250 per violation, up to $2 million. Attorney General Abbott is also alleging violations of the Texas Electronic Mail and Solicitation Act – which allows for penalties of up to $10 per unlawful e-mail or $25,000 per day – and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which authorizes penalties of up to $20,000 per violation. One involved citizen, Dewey Coffman of Austin, has been an instrumental player in Attorney General Abbott’s investigation. Mr. Coffman, who has significant expertise in spam filtering, firewalls and other mechanisms to protect consumers, set up “trap” e-mail accounts on his personal server to capture the defendants’ unsolicited e-mails. He archived and forwarded these messages to investigators with the Office of the Attorney General OAG), who then pinpointed their origin. Internet service providers and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also supported the Attorney General’s spam-fighting efforts. Like Mr. Coffman, Microsoft Corp. forwarded to OAG investigators e-mails captured in its trap e-mail accounts. In only a six-month period last year, these undercover accounts alone received 24,000 illegal e-mails sent by the defendants. The FTC provided the OAG access to its database of spam complaints. Attorney General Abbott added: “I am grateful to all those who assisted in our investigation. Through collaborative efforts like these, we can more effectively fight the vast public menace of spam.” Since Pitylak and Trotter established PayPerAction in 2002, it has operated over 250 assumed names, leading Internet users to believe they are being deluged by different companies soliciting for services. The defendants engaged in the common, but illegal, practice of using misleading subject lines that give recipients the false impression the e-mail contains information specific to them. By law, such promotional e-mails must clearly indicate they are advertisements and cannot use misleading subject line to trick recipients into opening them. When opened, most e-mails sent by the defendants contained hyped-up language pitching mortgage refinancing services, even though the defendants are not licensed in Texas to provide such services. Consumers often responded to these e-mails by providing additional information after being told their privacy would be protected. Instead, the defendants sold the information as sales leads to other companies for as much as $28 per lead. In passing the CAN-SPAM law, Congress recognized spam as a growing threat to the convenience and efficiency of e-mail. Internet service providers reported to Congress that unsolicited e-mail accounted for more than half of all e-mail traffic in 2003, up from an estimated 7 percent in 2001.
http://www.ftc.gov/spam/
Do you receive lots of junk email messages from people you don't know? It's no surprise if you do. As more people use email, marketers are increasingly using email messages to pitch their products and services. Some consumers find unsolicited commercial email - also known as "spam" - annoying and time consuming; others have lost money to bogus offers that arrived in their email in-box.
This website has information about the Federal Trade Commission's recent law enforcement actions against deceptive commercial email and spammers' responsibilities under the CAN-SPAM law. In the "For Consumers" section, you'll find tips on how to reduce the amount of spam email in your in-box.
If you get spam email that you think is deceptive, forward it to spam@uce.gov. The FTC uses the spam stored in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive email.
http://spam.abuse.net/
You have probably seen an increase in the amount of "junk mail" which shows up in your email box, or on your favorite newsgroup. The activities of a small number of people are becoming a bigger problem for the Internet. We have been actively engaged in fighting spam for years. Since we presented this site to the public in 1996, we have been pleased to be referenced as one of the best anti-spam sites on the net. Help fight spam to keep the Internet useful for everyone. Take advantage of the information we've gathered to make your own experience on the Internet better.
http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/1901
The defendants were accused of running a bogus email and internet operation responsible for more than 65,000 illegal emails. The illegal messages linked recipients to more than 75 different websites engaged in fraudulent or illegal business activities, including pharmaceutical and cigarette sales and the illegal downloading of copyrighted movies.
The judgment bars Scott J. Filary and Donald E. Townsend from engaging in any further deceptive email and internet activities that violate Florida's 2004 anti-spam law, the federal CAN-SPAM Act or Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Filary and Townsend must pay $50,000 to cover the costs of the state's investigation. They are also subject to a potential $1.1-million penalty if the terms of the injunction are violated, the $50,000 is not paid, or it is found that the financial statements provided were inaccurate.
The Attorney General filed the civil action in April and quickly secured a temporary injunction halting illegal spamming activities and unlawful conduct. The permanent injunction ordered today extends the earlier injunction and prohibits Filary and Townsend from sending or assisting in sending any email messages that have false or misleading headers or subject lines, from registering any web addresses under a false name, or from engaging in other activities designed to mislead recipients about the true nature of the email or website.
