BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly

Subject: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 12:09 PM

This probably is only a drop in the bucket, but the guy convicted recently was number 8 on a big boys of spam list by Spamhaus.

Of course new ones have come along to fill the lacuna left by his capture. Probably from offshore. Back when spam first started coming along my Internet Provider, Mindspring, set up a program in which recipients had to copy the head and the mail and send it to them, and they would analyze and supposedly track down (or at least block) the offender. That was only a few years, but in technologicial terms, many generations ago. Mindspring is now part of Earthlink. Earthlink, at least on paper, is trying to go after some of the spammers. Other than putting more effective filters in place, I don't see a great deal of progress. But this story is at least a satisfactory read. One guy got caught (even if he is one of hundreds or thousands). --SRS


Jail for junk email conman
4 November 2004
A conman who sent millions of junk emails has been jailed for nine years in the first prosecution of its kind.

Jeremy Jaynes, 30, was found guilty, along with his sister Jessica DeGroot, of bombarding America Online customers with unsolicited mail. Prosecutors in America described them as modern day "snake oil salesmen". The fraud involved offering people the chance to earn money working from home.

The case comes as figures show spam now accounts for between 60 to 80 per cent of all emails sent to Britain, with most of them coming from America. Jaynes was jailed and DeGroot, 28, was fined ?4,000 for sending emails with "fraudulent and untraceable routing information". A third defendant, Richard Rutkowski, was acquitted of similar charges.

Lawyers in Virginia prosecuted the case under a law that took effect last year barring people from sending bulk email that is unsolicited and masks its origin. Roughly half of the world's internet traffic passes through Virginia. Prosecutor Russell McGuire said Jaynes, from Raleigh, North Carolina, amassed a net wealth of $24 million peddling worthless products to AOL customers. "He's been successful ripping people off all these years," said Mr McGuire.

Jaynes, who used the alias Gaven Stubberfield, was ranked by the watchdog group Spamhaus as the eighth-most prolific spammer in the world when he was arrested last December.

Jaynes sent out more than 100,000 such messages over a 30-day period in July and August last year in violation of state law, according to the charges. In one month alone, he received 10,000 credit card orders, each for £25 for one of the products. "This was just a case of fraud," said state prosecutor Samuel E. Fishel. "This is a snake-oil salesman in a new format."

Prosecutors asked the jury to impose a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for Jaynes, and to consider an unspecified prison term for his sister. DeGroot was convicted after prosecutors proved she used her credit card to help out the operation.

Story is here.

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 12:56 PM

More more!!
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 01:20 PM

$24 million he stole from people!!!! And he still wanted more?

Man, I would show no mercy to people who do this sort of thing. I would have them working in solitary custody to pay it off for the rest of their natural lives. I regard this sort of conscienceless economic crime as just about the most despicable thing going.

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Chris Green
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 01:25 PM

I would force feed them their own willy-growing drugs that they keep advertising so they wind up with willies twice the size of themselves.

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 04:45 PM

It's sad to think that there are 10,000 people out there stupid enough to respond to spam and buy anything.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 04:47 PM

now, if they'd just make BUYING from the spammers a crime, we might have something..

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Little Hawk
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 05:12 PM

No, Bill...that would be like arresting drug users instead of the pushers. It's been tried. Very bad idea.

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: skipy
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 05:15 PM

Death to all spammers.

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: mack/misophist
Date: 05 Nov 04 - 10:08 PM

There was an article in The Register a while back about a proposed law in England that would allow authorities to go after companies that advertized with spammers. I hope they do it.

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 04:58 AM

natural selection I fear.

Since C&W sold it's US mail server business and SpamHouse wrote to the new owners about the power of rumour in the stock market and the effect on shares in all their businesses I found that overnight the level of spam dropped from hundreds per day to nothing. The new owner went public in in a big way about how they were "transitioning" the business. (Huh?)

The spammers then started using their brains eg connected me with an address because of where I store web pages. They are not getting smarter - but they are learning or loosing business to the point of failure.

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 10:15 AM

Good! May more follow in their footsteps.

Those lengthening potions and/or things reminds me of my of my old neighbor, Harold.   He bought some and he told me that it worked wonderfully. He added eight -- 8! -- inches to his length and four to his girth. Unfortunately, Harold was also five feet tall and only weighed 84 pounds fully clothed, so every time Harold became "interested" in a young lady all the blood rushed to his, ah, privy member. With no blood flow to his brain he'd pass out cold. His social life suffered (several young women suffered delusions of grandeur, thinking that, sans culottes so to speak, they'd caused his swoon and others figgered that they didn't quite live up to their own body image and suffered reversible trauma). Anyway, Harold realized that he was, through his own most grievous fault, destined to remain without what he most desired. He tried monastery, but the monkhood wasn't for him -- it was too close to a cloistered convent, and from his cell under the eaves of the building he could see the nun's unmentionables drying on the line. Anyway, he left the monastic life and drifted away. For a while I understand that he made some money as a sailboat on Lake Ponchatrain, but one glimpse of that nubile Southern womenhood and the boat wouldn't leave the dock. I've lost track of him, but my brother tells me that Harold has finally landed a job as a cell phone tower somewhere "back East."

Given as how spammers ruint Harold's life, I think that they should be jailed.

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Mr Red
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 07:22 PM

hah! - a shaft of wit or to put it another way...............

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Hrothgar
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 09:14 PM

While there are mugs available, these characters will be around - and we will never run out of mugs.

As W C Fields' scritwriter said, "There is one born every minute".

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 09:48 PM

I'd swear I posted a portion of another news story on this topic to this thread earlier today. Did it get zapped? It was only a short excerpt. Or maybe I lost my marbles and put it in the wrong place? SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spammer jailed--The Worm Turns slightly
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Nov 04 - 10:58 PM

Hey, even though this sentence was handed down in a courtroom just 3 blocks from where I worked the last 20 years, I disagree with the the sentence.

Hey, take the stolen dough, return it to those who were fleeced and then wait and give the guy the same amount of time that Ken Lay is gonna get...

Bobert