Another Major Spammer Busted

Iphtashu Fitz writes "25 year old Christopher William Smith, considered one of the worlds biggest spammers by the Spamhaus Project, is now sitting in a jail without bond. Smith allegedly had a doctor issue 72,000 prescriptions in the space of one year in conjunction with orders obtained through spamming. The doctor, Philip Mach, had a license to practice medicine in New Jersey but he provided prescriptions to people throughout the United States without ever evaluating them, both of which are big no-no's. Federal authorities have already seized over $3 million in cash, luxury cars, and houses."

Comments

Re:NJ

[Achromus]

He only has a license to practice medicine in New Jersey, but he provided prescriptions to people in other states.

Re:Both big no-no's?

[mikvo]

Let's try an alternate reading:

The doctor, Philip Mach, had a license to practice medicine in New Jersey but he 1: provided prescriptions to people throughout the United States 2: without ever evaluating them, both of which are big no-no's.

Better?

NOT BUSTED FOR SPAM!

[Sooner Boomer]

Read TFA! They were NOT busted for spam! They were drug dealers, caught illegally selling narcotics. Spam was how they advertised, but they are getting NO punishment for it.

Re:72,000!!

[Clod9]

> a rate of 1 prescription every 7 seconds?
Your math is wrong. There are 86,400 seconds in a day, so 72,000 prescriptions every 7 seconds would have taken less than a week. Admittedly, his hand would be cramped at that rate... but 72,000 in 11 months works out to about 27 per hour (working 8 hours per day), a rate I think most of us could comfortably sustain if someone was paying six or seven figures. Heck, I'd do it for five figures; except I can't because I'm not a physician, and if I were, I'd expect to get thrown in jail right alongside my spammer friend if I did it.

In other words, I think this scum-sucking doctor is at least as due for "due process" as the spammer. The spammer is annoying, the doctor is putting peoples' lives at risk. Well, OK, they both are. Throw the book at them.

Re:72,000!!

[Just Some Guy]

Supposedly the DEA monitors annual prescription rates of proscribed medications (pain meds, mostly).

My wife only has to put her DEA number on narcotic 'scripts. I don't think there's any national tracking of non-scheduled medication prescriptions, although I wouldn't assert that as a fact.

Re:72,000!!

[ptbarnett]

72,000 people out there actually put pills in their bodies which came from a spammer who spells it "V1Ag ra!!!"

According to TFA: "The indictment claims that from March 2004 to May 2005 the operation generated sales of more than $20 million from medications containing a single addictive painkiller, hydrocodone."

Hydrocodone is probably better known as Lortab or Vicodin. It's addictive. The recipients probably weren't that picky about their source.

Why he's in jail

[Animats]

A bit of history. Back in May, his company was shut down by court order. His assets and house were seized. An injunction was issued to stop him from further spamming. A court-appointed receiver took over the operation, paid off the employees, and shut the operation down. Meanwhile, a criminal indictment was in progress, but not yet completed.

So Smith went to the Dominican Republic and tried to restart spamming from there. On June 28th, a judge issued an arrest warrant for him. When he returned to the US, he was arrested, but released on bail, with home monitoring.

The prosecution then asked for a six-month criminal contempt sentence for trying to violate the injunction and fleeing prosecution. Smith had a court date for that in July, and lost. So now he's in jail for six months.

This is somebody who just didn't get it when the court ordered him to stop.

This is just the first phase. The felony case is just getting underway.