Archive for January, 2005
The CAN-SPAM Act Closes Loopholes
This anemic and vague federal law, which is enforced by the FTC, has been clarified with new definitions for Spam which are effective on March 28, 2005.
Internet stock guru will spend time in federal prison
A federal jury in Brooklyn, New York found Internet stock guru Amr I. “Anthony” Elgindy, guilty of racketeering, securities fraud and extortion. Former FBI agent Jeffrey A. Royer, was also found guilty of racketeering, securities fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Both Scam artists used confidential FBI files to manipulate stocks for profit. Both men face prison terms of 10 to 20 years. Read the court documents.
Spam Tricks: Don’t click the opt-out (Remove Me) link or pay money for a do not Spam remove list
Spammers are clever con artist, scam kings, criminals, low life, and all of them belong in jail. In this installment we document a couple of procedures which guarantee that you will receive even more Spam and in other cases part with your hard earned money.
The Sale of Counterfeit Drugs: Scam artist goes to Federal Prison
On January 21, 2005 a San Diego federal judge sentenced Mark Kolowich to over 4 years in federal prison and ordered him to forfeit profits of up to $3 million dollars. Kolowich pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to sell counterfeit drugs, money laundering and committing mail fraud and smuggling. The operation was described by prosecutors as one of the largest illegal Internet drug sales rings they have broken.
Spam Ring Sued Twice
The fifth largest Spam ring in the world was sued by the Texas Attorney General on January 13, 2005 and the next day the same Spam ring was sued by Microsoft. We love this double attack which spans Federal courts in the states of Texas and Washington.
The CAN-SPAM Act: Finally Gets Serious
The FTC has has won a court order to temporarily halt a pornography Spam ring that stretches from Las Vegas to Latvia. This is the first Spam litigation brought by the agency under the Adult Labeling Rule of the CAN-SPAM Act. Although we do not normally list the URLs of Adult sites in any of our articles, it’s impossible to properly document this landmark case without doing so. Our apologies to our valuable guests if this offends you.
Year 2005: The convergence of Spyware, Spam, Viruses and Phishing
This year will be far more dangerous than any prior year. The criminals who engage in Spyware, Spam, Viruses and Phishing have discovered a much more effective way to make your life miserable on the Internet and generate revenue.
Our Site Critique From “unhappy”
Every few weeks we will publish some email we receive along with our response. We generally redact the senders name and email address to protect their privacy. We have chosen not to enable the Comments feature of our script since it lacks adequate controls to prevent Spam and abuse. We hope you enjoy this regular feature.
The Phony Charity Scam – Part Two
On Friday (1-7-05), President Bush signed into law a bill extending the deadline through Jan. 31, 2005 for claiming charitable contributions in 2004. As long as taxpayers give cash and it goes to aid victims of the South Asia tsunamis. This will certainly produce a spike in Scamers and Fruadsters trying to steal either your donation or your idenity.
Site Enhancements
A few of you have written us with some dandy ideas about new features for this site. Thank you. Just in case you missed them, here is a summary.