Government agencies in the U.S. and New Zealand say they have sued the people behind one of the world's largest spamming operations.Ah, all our 'favorite things'. Except sex toys? I get no spam pushing sex toys. Obviously spammers of the world are sufficiently perspicacious to realize they would be surplus to requirement. Perhaps we have underestimated the breed.

Pity these are just civil suits - locking the little deviants away would seem a remote prospect, whatever the outcome.

Some countries have begun extraditing such criminals. This is only the tip of the iceberg. It may be wistful thinking, but I see a day when all these criminals will enjoy free meals in a cool place...Not to metion the prverbial bar of soap...

I can't tell of these are the same folks involved, but ...
spam ring shut down
Chicago (IL) - One of the largest spam rings on the Internet lost a battle to the Federal Trade Commission today in a preliminary hearing, thus causing a Chicago court to freeze the group’s assets in an effort to shut the spam operation down.

The group used several different names, but was mainly known as HerbalKing. The organization was able to send billions of unsolicited e-mails to Internet users during the past twenty months. The group’s emails promote replica watches and various drugs among which are weight loss and male enhancement products. HerbalKing utilized a botnet, is a huge global network of computers infected with malicious software that have been infected without their owners’ knowledge.

Marshal Software aided the FTC in their investigation and estimated the botnet software used by the group was comprised of about 35,000 computers and was capable of sending 10 billion e-mail messages each day. Marshal Software estimated that in January this particular botnet was the leading source of all spam mail on the Internet.
.....
The commission requested that the federal district court in Chicago freeze the finances, claiming that the members had been utilizing both unfair and deceptive advertising methods and thus violating the Can-spam Act of 2003. This law allows for both civil and criminal penalties for spammers who falsify information in e-mail messages and then do not offer ways for consumers to unsubscribe.

The government also wants a hand in this case and is pursuing criminal charges against the group. Members of the spam gang have had search warrants served against them by the FBI.

The HerbalKing group was capable of handling their ordeals on an international level. It was shipping drugs such as Propecia, Lipitor, Celebrex, and Zoloft from India. The FTC claims that the group ran their websites from China and were processing credit cards from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia and Cyprus and transferred funds between members utilizing ePassporte.

Seems like it is. Disappointing aspects - one of the principals is a recidivist - prior actions taken against him in 2004 seem only to have spurred him on to greater efforts. The Indian pharms/remedies industry is implicated, efforts by their authorities to shut down that shameful, shamful, harmful affront to the health of the desperate seem to have been worthless. And of course...for which there is evidence already.No need for barbarity Dr. A. Several of them are Kiwis - mere sheep deprivation would be sufficient to cause them indescribable anguish (Kiwis are famous for their fondness for their flocks).

Got this via an e-mail briefing today from KnujOn:

http://www.knujon.com/news.html#10152008


That's a hoot if true -- these guys were actually doping their fake pills with real drugs (and fairly consequential ones at that)! Another reason not to put anything in your mouth that passed through the hands of spammers.

These guys have been clogging my inbox for so long that I think their disappearance (if true) must be the biggest reason why my received spam volume (even at SpamCop) has of late dropped to zero most days.

-- rick

Moderator Edit: Merged this post into the existing Topic/Discussion on the same subject matter, same players.

Filtering Rick, I would put my money on filtering, that's really the only believable explanation. Filtering, somewhere. I can assure you the spam is still out there, court orders notwhithstanding though that might momentarily affect some small pocket of the spamiverse (but which, like 'nature', abhors a vacuum). In fact spam might have even increased in the past week, based on my experience - you know, that at the bottom-most, most populated segment, 'their' response to reduced/static revenue is to increase the spew. It's the most cost-effective weapon in their armarium and ISPs/networks do their best to make the medium, the internet 'ether', infinitely accommodating.

I've said it before - if only someone could start figuring the greenhouse emissions attributable to spamming we might actually get somewhere with spam control. Legislators can only concentrate on one thing at a time, and when the present fiscal emergency passes ... Yes, as Miss Betsy reminds us from time to time, legislation is not the solution. But it could be made to not hinder at least, and be more 'universal'.

But, yeah, it's nice when one more pack of internet despoilers-desolators gets their comeuppance. If only it would 'stick' and/or serve as deterrence, firstly for them, next for 'the rest'. Alas, not even a return to public hanging, drawing and quartering (the variety involving disembowelment and the progresssive burning of the rectally-extracted entrails before the still-living eyes of the subject of such treatment) would do that - though the up-wind section of the watching crowd might rejoice. And it would at least 'stick' WRT the processed perpetrators. Can you guess whose address just got spoofed (again) as sender in a spamrun?

I thought we were talking about the same people, but it was too late in the evening for me to find the 'other' topic.

In this case the spammers were breaking an already existing law. And, ISTM, that many spam rings can be busted because of already existing laws. The few that operate just inside the law, like Sheets offline, may continue, but maybe not. With most ISPs not wanting spammers, it may not be worthwhile - they may prefer to buy online advertising on the 'free' email resources.

Unfortunately, phishing and some other illegal activities are too lucrative if the fish bite so they will probably continue in spite of arrests now and then. Unless the stakes are really high (like in the 419 scams), I wouldn't think it was worth it to take time to evade filters. But 419 and lottery scammers have been operating in snail mail for years - in fact, still do.

I don't know how to deal with the people whose computers get infected. Without them, wouldn't a really high percentage of spam stop? Perhaps a fine, like one for littering?

Miss Betsy

Yes, my ISP has what appears to be a brutally-effective spam filter setup; the minute I turn it off I will start receiving around 100 per day (I sometimes do this just to "sample" what is out there). Ironically, this same ISP (Verizon) apparently does not have a sterling reputation with regard to spam leaving its domain, but that's another problem for another set of people I suppose.

(holding up hand) Me too. I seem to get picked on once every couple of months by a Russian outfit sending domestic Russian spam. I must've gotten myself on someone's, er, fecal list. Always gets me 20-30 bounces per run. Low-level, but annoying, like Russian Water Torture.

-- rick

Yes, I think most of these guys are breaking existing laws, if only laws regarding computer subversion ("unauthorized use of protected computers" etc.).

I am guessing that indicting someone merely for "spamming" is a tough row to hoe because there is a lot of ambiguity in the term (e.g., Jaynes' conviction overturned because he was merely sending "anonymous e-mail" whatever that means). It is much easier if you can show that they are selling illegal or controlled goods, committing mail fraud or wire fraud, etc. since these are all probably far better understood by the courts.

Another rather sticky problem. Yes, maybe you could fine zombie owners if their traffic traversed a government or public resource (like the USPS) at some point, but here in the U.S. (and many other countries) most internet transmissions are handled by ISPs and common carriers, all private businesses. Some ISPs do take on the thankless task of policing up their customer's systems, thank goodness, but many others do not. Suffice it to say that there will always be a comfortably large pool of potential zombies for spammers to glom onto.

-- rick

Maybe it would have to be fines for the ISPs? How many does Comcast have? That might help in the US and maybe other countries would follow suit.

Miss Betsy