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International Spam Ring Shut Down

Posted by kdawson on from the spamhaus-top-ten dept.

smooth wombat writes "An international spam ring with ties to Australia, New Zealand, China, India, and the US is in the process of being shut down. Finances of members in the US are being frozen using the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 while the FBI is pursuing criminal charges. The group sent spam advertising male enhancement herbs and other items using a botnet estimated at 35,000 computers, and able to send 10 billion emails per day. The Federal Trade Commission monitored the group's finances and found that they had cleared $400,000 in Visa charges in one month alone."

2 of 243 comments (clear)

  1. Fines for those in NZ by The+Ancients · · Score: 5, Informative

    $200,000 fines are being aimed at three of the offenders here in New Zealand:

    http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/8D970CCB86C6155ACC2574E200636699

    --
    The Mothership
  2. Re:Jeez you people... by Phroggy · · Score: 4, Informative

    why would a company pay spammers to send out emails if it doesn't make them money?

    You're forgetting Rule #1: spammers lie.

    The company believes that the spammer has been very successful in the past with their double-opt-in targeted marketing campaigns and the spammer's other clients have been very satisfied, because that's what the spammer tells them. They don't find out the truth until after the spammer has been paid.

    --
    $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
    $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;