In the battle against spam, CNN is reporting that a “kingpin” spammer has been indicted on multiple fraud charges this past week. The spammer in question, Alan Ralsky, was one of 11 defendants indicted on 41 counts of computer fraud by a Detroit grand jury last week.
Internet security experts estimate that Ralsky made millions by manipulating stock prices with a massive international spam operation. Ralsky is such an infamous figure among federal prosecutors, that they have begun calling him “the poster boy for spam.” Ralsky’s alleged spamming operations targeted everything from the stock market to unregulated diet pills.
Ralsky’s son-in-law, Scott Bradley, was also arrested on Thursday, and another defendant, Wai John Hui, from Canada was arrested in New York the day before on similar charges.
Altogether, the defendants in the case are accused of our earning more than $3 million during the summer of 2005 as a result of an illegal spam operation. Federal investigators have been looking into the so-called “pump and dump” spam scheme for three years now. The scheme made money by promoting Chinese penny stocks, in an effort to artificially inflate stock prices.
The defendants in the indictment are also accused of using the malware tool known as “botnet,” which is an ad hoc network of virus infected computers that can be externally controlled by unscrupulous spammers and hackers.
The charges facing the 11 indicted spammers include fraud, computer fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy as reported by the Department of Justice. According to court documents, FBI agents seized computers and records from Ralsky’s home in Michigan last September to make their case to the grand jury.
If convicted, Ralsky and the other defendants may face 20 years in prison and as much as $250,000 in fines. Ralsky may also forfeit real estate, bank accounts and life insurance policies worth an estimated $2.7 million, according to the Associated Press.
Not surprisingly, this is not the first legal tangle for Ralsky and several of the other defendants. Rawlsky was sued in 2001 by Verizon communication on the grounds that he allegedly shut down a large part of its network by sending millions of unsolicited e-mail spam messages. The suit was settled in 2002, with Ralsky promising not to spam anyone on the Verizon network.
The CAN-SPAM act of 2004 regulates the use of commercial e-mail messages, and strictly forbids misleading subject lines or “cloaked” return e-mail addresses that are often used to hide spammer’s real identities.
Web experts are praising the FBI’s crack down on spam, and although there is still a long way to go, the bureau is now targeting some of the biggest spammers in the United States; a move which should help to keep American e-mail inboxes spam-free.
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