Posted by Virus Bulletin on Jun 1, 2007
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.
Posted on 01 June 2007 by Virus Bulletin
