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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
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!
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
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.
"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]
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.
Nope, still all spammy.
Six score characters.
Brevity being wit's soul
I have enough space.
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.
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
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
MIT uses the death penality only in those cases related to CalTech.
Faith: n. -- That human impulse that drives them to steal appliances when the power goes out
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.
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!
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.
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.
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