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Massachusetts Drops Hammer on Spam Gang
karvind writes "According to story on BBC and Yahoo, the Massachusetts attorney general has filed a lawsuit against one of the world's biggest spam gangs. An emergency court order granted under the suit should see the network of websites the spammers ran shut down.
Attorney General Thomas Reilly's civil complaint against alleged ringleader Leo Kuvayev and six other people associated with 2K Services Ltd. and Ecash Pay Ltd.
Offered for sale on the websites were pornography, pills, pirated software and fake fancy watches."
New York's Attoreny General
or
Massachusetts attorney general?
Both are making huge names for themselves by fighting the fights no one else wants to touch.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
"This type of spam is more than just an annoyance to consumers," said Mr Reilly. "It poses a real danger to people who may be fooled into buying counterfeit versions of prescription drugs or unwittingly open e-mail links to sexually explicit websites."
Is this similar to states that send out notifications to their employees and citizens that buying drugs from Canada is acceptable, encouraged, and more inexpensive than buying them from any pharmacy in their local area? I guess I'm in danger.
In this day and age, if you open an email from someone you don't know and see links and you click them you are not unwittingly doing anything. You are just a nitwit.
Under the lawsuit Mr Reilly wants the defendants fined for breaking state and national laws outlawing spam. He also wants them to repay people who lost money because of the huge amounts of spam mail that was sent.
Brought the hammer down? They haven't been convicted of anything yet. They have had their websites shutdown until they go to court and fight the lawsuit. Let's not make this any more "sensational" then it already is. Thanks.
My spam count has gone from "insane" to "alot". I guess we haven't arrested enough.
The "Internet Spam Gang," as investigators called the group, is considered to be one of the world's largest spam operations and has sent millions of unsolicited e-mail messages for items like pirated software and counterfeit drugs. The gang is comprised of seven individuals and allegedly headed by Leo Kuvayev, who lives in Newton, a Boston suburb.
As reported by www.cio-today.com
fuvoo: watch something
As a resident and tax payer of Massachusetts, I'm glad to see my tax money going to something good.
Now Mit just needs to bring back the death penalty for these bastards.
That would be wicked cool.
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
It's nice to see some spammers getting sued rather than some 12 year old girl who downloads MP3s...
This is nice but as long as there is money to made sending spam there will be plenty of border-line companies jumping into the gap to replace others taken down. This isn't going to end until we go after the companies selling their products through the spammers.
I am still baffeld at how and why SPAM still works?!?! Everyone i know complains about spam, even the most non-technical people... Yet, apparently, some of them still go and buy stuff...
I'd be very curious to see some figures on how much money was spent on spam-started purchases last year....
The Digital Couture Collection
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! What's their hand sign? Do they go around flashing their USB drive covers to each other to represent their set? Do they have license plates with their IP subnets? Yeah, boyee!
I am not holding my breath, but, if this helps reduce the number of spam messages that hit my inbox I would be grateful. Several weeks ago it was hitting in excess of 20 messages a day and they were all so obvious spam. A number of them had sotware prices so low it had to be pirated.
So far this week it is at about 2-5 per day. Not a problem as the filters identify it most of the time. A quick look at the sending name and subject line and I file it in the trash without looking at them.
Panic now, beat the rush!
So what's the problem here?
FTA: So far no formal charges have been filed against Mr Kuvayev and his colleagues who are thought to be behind the two companies, 2K Services Ltd and Ecash Pay Ltd, that sent all the spam.
So, what did they do? They filed a restraining order to have the websites shut down. A RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST A WEBSITE!?!?!?
FTA: Two phone numbers for Kuvayev and 2K Services in Canada were disconnected
So, he disconnected his phones and moved. How long until he sets up shop again?
The previous comment is purposely vague and generalized, but all of the facts are completely true.
would file charges against the Big Dig Contractors, as well as the shitty state management, and the Mass Turnpike authority.
While geeks are probably going to herald this as a great thing, a more cursory review might reveal this to be an easier way of filling the state's coffers, through lawsuits.
A similar example might be how Tobacco Companies were sued and now provide a great deal of revenue to the states.
Reason, free market capitalism, and individualism
Thank you for your kind and insightful response good sir, from your user history it appears that you have a history of insightful and provocative comments. Good day.
Because if it hasn't then its not as interesting as this.
...where will I do my christmas shopping?
Now I want a license plate with my IP subnets on it!!!
/.!
Where r my pills??!
Damn this
Given the area's high retiree population, this doesnt surprise me. After all, they can pick up their V1agra and c1alis practically right around the corner once the email hits their account!
Read more about it at the Sun Sentinel.
Between tracking sex offenders, fighting for Terri Schiavo, and getting slot machines taxed, theres little room for this on the legislative agenda.
...both interiorlly, and exteriorlly.
... till after Mother's Day. My wife would have been pissed if I had pay full price for her Rolex.
And I'm glad I stocked up on Cialis and Viagra for our anniversary.
sigs, as if you care.
"Offered for sale on the websites were pornography, pills, pirated software and fake fancy watches."
Wow, that's 98% of my daily home email even *after* filtering. [applause]
Offered for sale on the websites were pornography, pills, pirated software and fake fancy watches.
1. hot teean slutzz dikk starved
2. New product! Cialis soft tabs
3. Adobe Photoshop for $20
4. Italian crafted Rolex watches
I've been getting all of these kinds, thank you.
"There are already a million monkeys on a million typewriters, and Usenet is NOTHING like Shakespeare." - Blair Houghton
For this particular sort of spam, they're selling knock-offs of the products being offered. In that case, the companies whose knocked-off products are being spammed are very much the victims as well and certainly are participants.
There are companies who deal with shady contractors for advertising, and six levels down it ends up in spam, but I don't think that's what we're dealing with here.
Dude, that's the next town over from me!
If someone posts his address, I can get some photos of his digs. We can O'Gara The Spamma!
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
Nope, still all spammy.
Six score characters.
Brevity being wit's soul
I have enough space.
So how about a list of MTAs they're using?
Fred
"A fool and his freedom are soon parted"
-RMS
While I fully approve of this, it's important to note that this is clearly an attempt for the AG to boost his visibility and popularity for the 2006 gubernatorial election. It's no secret that Riley will be challenging Romney.
That makes me question if he'll take a hard line and go for not only shutting them down, but setting an example for others, or if he'll take the easy approach of getting a settlement that makes him look good, but doesn't act as a deterrent.
Suppose that the cost of stopping a spam e-mail at the source can be quantified, and same for the benefit for doing same (a stretch, but it's necessary for the following discussion). Then, society will stop spam e-mails as long as the cost of stopping the nth, (its Marginal Cost, or MC) is less than or equal to the benefit for stopping it (its Marginal Benefit, or MB).
The MB is relatively low for stopping just one e-mail, since many filters stop these anyway. The MC, on the other hand, is relatively high, as we have seen. Therefore, the MC will catch up to the MB very fast, and very little spam will be stopped.
Yet, apparently, some of them still go and buy stuff
Yes, and I have a rock that *APPARENTLY* keeps tigers away. I can personally attest that I have never been attacked by a tiger while I had the rock.
This is one of the myths about spam: that it must work, because otherwise spammers wouldn't be doing it. And it's just that: a myth.
It doesn't matter if people buy things from spammers, or if people don't buy things from spammers. The spammers will still spam because A) it costs them nothing, and B) they *BELIEVE* it must work, because there is so much spam.
Surely there's plenty of criminal culpability here...
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
...wasn't it Gallagher who did that? He does watermelons and all sorts of food. I was pretty sure that Spam(r) was included.
Cases like this are a case of smoke and mirrors with a bulk of press coverage. In the end it makes very little difference until we see a drop in the SPAM emails being recieved by our email boxes.
However on the plus side every little bit helps if we do see that little bit that these spammers have removed or potentially removed. Although im sure someone other spammer will probably just grow up and take over the room / bandwidth that the previous spamemrs where taking.
As a Mass. resident, I'm thoroughly amused by the local media outlets... I've heard from both WBZ radio and WCVB TV News the story with a lead in saying something like...
"If you live in Massachusetts, you'll be happy to hear you'll be getting less spam now that..."
I'd be curious to see exactly how much spam from these guys was destined to Massachusetts people. Oh hell, don't bother. Borders are so... 1900's...
Peter
Sorry, it really does work. The cost of sending spam is like 0 and there are INDEED one or two idiots out there who will buy your stuff. People buy stuff from junk snail mail. Real spammers make enough money to live comfortably and maintain their spam operation. Scary, but true.
I disagree. I knew a couple of people at my former job who actually bought things that were sent to them as SPAM. One coworker bought a "Digital Camera" that had no LCD and about 2 megs of internal RAM. The software for manging the thing was full of spyware. Without the software you couldn't get pictures off it, and without the spyware, the camera management software ceased functioning, so he decided to leave the malware on his work computer. The Network Admin actually got a dressing down from the company's owner for uninstalling the spyware and thus "Breaking Dick's camera" in the process.
I tried to talk to the guy about buying things from Spam. He and the other staffer who bought junk like that compared it to buying things from mail order catalogs. "We can't stop those either, and they're harder to get rid of then just hitting the 'delete' button."
When A----- said, "If it was a scam the police would shut them down" followed by a glare that made it clear she thought I was an idiot.
A----- later had problems with a credit card number being stolen. I asked her if it was the same card she'd used to buy the camera. I was treated to a 15 minute tirade insisting I was paranoid.
People buy things from Spam, and have no problems with doing so.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
So what is the legal basis for this suit?
I'm hoping that they're using good old-fashioned fraud, false advertising, and similar laws. So often we see lawmakers rushing out to tackle the latest problem instead of law enforcement agencies using existing laws to crack down on the new behaviour.
I know people (Well knew, I've changed jobs since then) who buy things from Spam.
I went into more detail here, but the bottom line is there are people dumb enough to buy this stuff. The justification I've heard people give had a lot to do with people equating Spam with the catalogs they get in the mail. I've gotten a lot of derision from some people for claiming otherwise.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
What else could help to deterr spam?
Legislation could be more effective if advertising through spamming was also illegal.
Also, if we, the end users, would more easily see what companies are advertising through spam than that would hurt the company's image and be a deterrent. An idea for a browser plugin maybe?
Also adding to effectiveness would be to block sites of advertisers that are on the spammers list. For example, a firefox plugin could automatically check if url's are spam url's and hide the URL and the sites, if the user chooses to.
We need more than just legislation against spamming, the driving source of spam are the advertisers!
I think you mean eight hex digits for a full IP4 address:
Dotted Decimal (normal) - 207.142.131.235
Dotted Hexadecimal - 0xCF.0x8E.0x83.0xEB
Dotted Octal - 0317.0216.0203.0353
Decimal - 3482223595
Hexadecimal - 0xCF8E83EB
Vivin Suresh Paliath
http://vivin.net
I like
Since this basically is an "organized" crime, what's needed is a RICO investigation. RICO (Racketeer-influenced and Corrupt Organizations act) is a special law crafted to fight organized crime. Essentially anyone knowingly involved in a criminal organization or providing it with support can face a shit load of jail time.
One thing spammers DO need are hosting companies, internet service, a certain amount of banking services, and so on. The people providing them with these services need to be investigated as part of a RICO investigation. That alone will have a chilling effect, and there has to be a few prosecutions possible.
Seeing THOSE guys guy down will do a lot to increase the risk of even doing otherwise "legitimate" business with a spammer, and thus the costs will rise even higher to the point where spam will not be profitable.
Stopping people from spamming is impossible; cutting off their air supply isn't. The money goes someplace, and anyone getting a cut needs to start reviewing the glossy brochures for Federal Penetenieries.
it really does work
and you would know because you're a spammer?
I know what you mean. My spam has gone in waves over the last month. I'll have a couple dozen each day that elude the filter and then suddenly 170+ in a few hours. And these fake Rolex, Pharmacy and pirate software are the bulk of what constitutes these waves.
I figured there was a new player in spam who had just increased their volume immensely.
Under the lawsuit Mr Reilly wants the defendants fined for breaking state and national laws outlawing spam. He also wants them to repay people who lost money because of the huge amounts of spam mail that was sent.
He's letting them off easy. I want them fileted.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
"The lawsuit alleges the spammers broke state consumer-protection laws, as well as a federal anti-spam law known as CAN-SPAM, and seeks restitution for anyone who lost money because of the operation, as well as fines, court costs and other relief." This isn't a criminal trial.
Unless they go after the advertisers, the money will always be there. Companies and individuals are buying into this illegal advertising, but seem immune to its consequences.
As for the spammers, is it so bad spending a year or two in jail to become a multi-millionaire?
Fine Phizer.
Fine whoever make levitra.
I'm sure spam will stop right quick then.
Frankly, I'm suprised most of these spam operations haven't moved to most Asian, African or some European countries by now. From those locations, they're perfectly free to send as much spam as they desire with no fear of criminal prosecution.
It works because the spam problem still exists.
Get a FREE Sony PS3
Smart parents protect our children.
two questions
do you have any of these magical rocks for sale?
do you only take paypal or can i just give you all my bank details and let you deal with it?
Nearly all the cases thus far felt like nothing more than a mild slap on the wrist. This is evident by the ever increasing volume of spam that floods our inbox daily, DESPITE all thse "prosecutions."
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
fake fancy watches: So were the watches fake (as in duct tape around the wrists)? or was the fancy fake (a.k.a. 'bling')?
When is the email system/design going to be upgraded to a new level so spoofed headers, etc are obsolete? I wouldn't mind seeing myname@url.com and myname@@url.com with the double hats for the new standard. Everything so far has been a patch the way SP2 was to XP, it simply doesn't fix the issue.
That's because Cambridge is full of stinking communist linux-loving hippies! I don't understand how other top-10 cities in America could grow so large by eating ajacent communities and Boston couldn't cross a river.
.. is usually a mallet, not a hammer. And it's swung forcefully rather than dropped. (As always, it's targetted and the spammer opt'ed in.) But whatever sinks their boat is fine with me!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
This is one of the myths about spam: that it must work, because otherwise spammers wouldn't be doing it. And it's just that: a myth.
It doesn't matter if people buy things from spammers, or if people don't buy things from spammers. The spammers will still spam because A) it costs them nothing, and B) they *BELIEVE* it must work, because there is so much spam.
More precisely, all a spammer has to do is convince a few clients that spamming works. By the time the client finds out that, no, it doesn't, the spammer has his money (and religiously obeys the First Rule of Acquisition).
(In terms of your metaphor, if you can convince some sucker that your rock will keep tigers away, and are not encumbered with an inconvenient attack of conscience, you can sell your rock for perfectly good money, notwithstanding the fact that it's just an ordinary piece of rock.)
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
You'll learn new, amazing, and fantastic ways to:
Increase your penis size
Reduce your mortgage
Find a **REAL** African prince
This post encoded with ROT26. If you can read it, you've violated the DMCA. Handcuffs please, sergeant.
dispense some indiscriminate justice.
Now before I get modded down, I be to remind whoever might read this that what I am saying is FACT. - bogaboga
...would be to Slashdot the spammers websites. :P
Great, with these arrests now I'll never get that bottle of counterfit Viagra I ordered, get that great mortgage rate, or meet lonely local housewives.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
OK, not Webmail in PDAs but notebooks/laptops are good for this method.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
I should change my sig... the dude gave up a while ago... so all my comments now are modded normally.
It also accounts for 98% of the mail in your "sent" folder. [applause]
I don't see how this is going to fix the problem. Unless they're really afraid of hamsters.
If you want an interesting explanation for this behavior, a paper about the theory (dopamine addiction and "M0") is available here...
Now - I don't know how serious the authors are about this paper, and I have heard that it is a "bunch of bull" - but at the same time, these crys that it is false could be nothing more than M0 and dopamine addiction in those who are crying foul - because to acknowledge that such a thing exist is anaethema to its very existance, thus those already under the influence of M0 must decry it, otherwise M0 would perish.
It sounds so very much like a weird conspiracy - shadowy, implausible, etc - but if you read the paper, and make the assumption that the paper is "true" (regardless of the reality for the moment) - it seems to explain a lot of behavior in many people and the society in general around you.
Curiously, geeks in particular tend to not be affected by M0 - according to the theory this is why there is such bullying and such by others towards geeks (and similar creative driven individuals) because M0 needs dopamine addiction to continue to "live" - and where is isn't possible, a forced regemin of dopamine enhancement drugs are forced on these kids today to "get them into the fold", or if this isn't possible, other methods are used (ie, in other words it is possible to get a geek to become M0-positive - but such individuals are not naturally predisposed to it from the outset of life).
Something I have found interesting from the paper - even if it truely is a load of bull. If you study the theory enough, and are of such a bent, you can use the knowledge of M0 (and other works) to "pick away at the filter" - so to speak, but in a very refined way. In such cases, most of the time the individual will become "enraged" (and why is covered by the paper) - but in some cases, it is possible to cause the individual to have a mental breakdown or disconnect from reality in some manner. It is kinda like deliberately inserting a subtle bug into code, and watching the system slowly grind to a halt. From my experience, these people tend to go into a weird "looping" persona, that makes even less sense than their old persona. I imagine though, with proper application, it might be possible to cause such individuals to have complete mental breakdowns causing them to seek psychatric or similar care - or possibly, in extreme circumstances - suicide.
Read the paper - decide for yourself. Further realize that if M0/dopamine addiction truely does exist - that it is these self-same people who seem for some reason (probably because if it does exist, everybody else is "addicted") to "rise to the top" - becomeing the individuals high up in the power structure - CEO's and government leaders, even. Are we scared yet...?
I only hope and pray that it is fake - but the theory of M0 seems to explain/coincide with observations of people and society I have made - I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything, but it is chilling to think about, nonetheless...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
Can these people still get close to this guy? Perhaps close enough to stick a dagger in his neck?
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
While its encourageing to hear of such suits, especially when they bring on TRO, I can't help but feel a little let down. Once AG's stop doing civil suits and start criminal prosecutions for spam then you will see a fundamental shift in the amount of spammer and the make up of the spammers doing it. Only AG or DA can do prosecutions, anyone of us can sue spammers. Our own suit file last month against Kraft/Gevalia for $11 million may help change their mind about using spam. (http://legal.hyperotuch.com/ They already seemed to be taking steps to change. However, one interesting note is that some number of news organizations never heard of the suit, ironically because their spam filters caught emails that talked about Gevalia. Makes me wonder if the defendants have ever stopped to evaluate how spamming may be hurting their word-of-mouth advertising.
Read a statistic someplace that said that spam accounts for 60% of the internet traffic. Die spam.
[%] Cingular Ringtones
I first read this headline as "Massachusetts Plops Whammer In Sperm Bank". And I was like, "nice going Ma-ha-sachusettster-meister!" while holding up a beer.
Even if I only have to wait for Gmail to download a list of stuff in my "spam" folder, it's still a waste.
OTOH, it would be much better to educate the public to the point where spam isn't an issue. Especially if every spam was responded to with some amount of tarpitting/DDOSing.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Our boy Leo isn't the biggest spammer out there, but he's on the list. Here's some info from ROKSO:
"Russian/American spammer, a spin-off or occasional partner with Alan Ralsky, Igabromiv and also the P/A/Y gang.
Does "OEM CD" pirated software spam, child and animal porn spam, porn payment collection, and others."
So let's see here: Animal porn, CHILD porn, associated with some of the very worst (Ralsky in particular)...
Yep. Hanging's too good for him. A public stoning might be a worthy spectacle for someone like this.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
If you HATE ads/on-topic self-promotion, DO NOT read further!
Still interested?
38 Million people worldwide have bought or will buy spamvertised stuff
(NOTE: One of the webpages linked to at the URL above was updated. The estimated worldwide online population is now 934 million.)