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Spammer Ducks For Cover

Posted by michael on from the everyone-loves-spam dept.

rabidgremlin writes "The New Zealand Herald has an article about a NZ based spammer who has shut up shop after being at the receiving end of an anti-spam campaign. Good riddance I say, but some of his comments ("never intended to break any regulations" and "I'll just stick to search engines and web sites - that's still plenty of fun and money.") had me wondering if he and other spammers are as really naive as the article makes out."

9 of 363 comments (clear)

  1. 20 phone calls? by Champaign · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow, the guys sends millions of e-mail messages, then he closes up shop after getting 20 unsolicited phone calls.

    Guess that's what you call "can dish it out, can't take it"...

    1. Re:20 phone calls? by imnoteddy · · Score: 4, Funny
      If even a tiny group of all the people who receive spam would give feedback by making a phone call, I think it could make many spammers to reconsider their business.

      I have an email filter rule that looks for toll-free numbers and puts them in a folder. Every morning I call the (usually 2 or 3) that have come in the last 24 hours and say politely, "I got your email about (whatever) and just wanted to let you know I'm not interested" and then hang up. No abuse, just waste their time and probably confuse them.

      --
      No electrons were harmed creating this post, though some may have been subjected to electrical and/or magnetic fields.
    2. Re:20 phone calls? by optikSmoke · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hello, this is [insert telco here]. You have a collect call from EAT MY DICK YOU COCKFACE SPAMMER. Press 1 to accept the charges now.

      Excellent.....

    3. Re:20 phone calls? by Steve+B · · Score: 4, Funny
      A spammer might not take phone calls seriously enough. That's why I'd prefer to a put a horse's head in his bed.

      At which point the bed would contain an entire horse.

      --
      /. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
  2. what a maroon by Jafafa+Hots · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Mr Atkinson said that on a good day he and his associates would send out 100 million messages."

    "he had received more than 20 phone calls, five of them obscene"

    oh for shame. 20 phone calls. some of them obscene! Good golly, why should the poor man have his time wasted in such a way? :rolleyes:

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    This space available.
  3. Oh, this is so NOT a good idea . . . by Brad+Cossette · · Score: 5, Funny

    You realize, Mr. Atkinson, that by backing off now you're encouraging us to continue this kind of behavior on other spammers . . .

    In a truely please-don't-blink moment, the man who claimed to send out 100 million messages a day on such wonderful things as penis-enlarging pills complains about receiving 5 obscene phone calls . . . they were probably just disappointed customers. ;)

    --
    -- "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" [Oscar Wilde]
  4. Somebody, please by Gherald · · Score: 5, Funny

    Post his e-mail address and phone number!

    No really, this is for legitemate business. I represent a major supplier of penis enlargment pills, and I just want to offer him my company's services.... ten thousand times per day.

    --
    The unofficial /. digest
  5. Personally by Hal+The+Computer · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm not worried about Artificial Intelligence, when they invent Artificial Stupidiy, then I'll be scared.

    --

    int main(void){int x=01232;while(malloc(x));return x;}
  6. Calling up spammers by billstewart · · Score: 4, Funny
    If one person called up a spammer's toll-free number and sang them the Monty Python Spam Song or Weird Al Yankovic's Spam song, they might think it was a bit odd, but if a whole bunch of people started calling up, singing them a spam song, and hanging up, they might start to think it was a _movement_.

    And if one person called up their toll-free number and left them a phone number they didn't want to talk to, like their ISP's phone number, or Interpol's, or the FBI's anonymous tip line, or their local police office, or their country's government's people-selling-bad-medicine bureaucracy's complaint line, or other spammers' toll-free numbers, or other spammers' ISP contact numbers, they might also start to think they were getting slashdotted.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks