US DOJ Press Release - February 17, 2005

A New York state teenager was arrested yesterday at Los Angeles International Airport after allegedly sending waves of unsolicited “spam” e-mail messages to an online instant messaging service, and then threatening additional attacks unless the company hired him as a consultant. Anthony Greco, 18, of Cheektowaga, New York, is charged in a criminal complaint with violating the federal CAN-SPAM Act, which was passed by Congress in 2003 to cut down unsolicited e-mail messages.

According to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court and unsealed this morning, Greco created thousands of fraudulent accounts at instant messaging service MySpace.com in October and November 2004. Greco used those accounts to send more than 1.5 million spam messages containing advertising for mortgage refinancing and adult pornography to MySpace.com users. MySpace.com is an online community with instant messaging services used primarily by teen-age children. MySpace.com spent well over $5,000 to delete nearly 1.5 million unopened “spam” messages from its servers and to take protective measures against additional attacks.

Days after the attacks began, according to the complaint, Greco contacted MySpace.com, took responsibility for sending the spam, and proposed that he be granted “exclusive” rights to send commercial e-mail to MySpace.com users. He also offered to protect MySpace.com against other spam advertisers. When MySpace.com did not respond to his proposal, Greco sent messages to MySpace.com in which he threatened to show other spammers how to send messages to MySpace.com users if the company did not hire him. In his messages, Greco noted that sharing his spamming techniques would “open a Pandora’s box of Spam” on MySpace.com’s computer system and potentially take MySpace.com offline.

The complaint charges Greco with three offenses - violating the CAN-SPAM Act, threatening to cause damage to MySpace.com’s computers with the intent to extort, and causing damage to a protected computer. If convicted of all three offenses, Greco faces a maximum possible penalty of 18 years in federal prison Greco is scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles this afternoon.

Extract from Texas AG Press Release - January 13, 2005

Attorney General Abbott files first Texas Lawsuit for violation of email spam laws. HOUSTON - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today filed the state’s first lawsuit against one of the world’s largest spam operations in an effort to crack down on the massive flow of illegal e-mail into Texas consumers’ in-boxes.

Ryan Samuel Pitylak , a University of Texas at Austin student, and Mark Stephen Trotter of California, are named in the Attorney General’s federal complaint as controlling PayPerAction L.L.C., Leadplex L.L.C. and Leadplex Inc., three companies registered in Nevada. One watchdog group, SpamHaus.org, ranks the defendants as the fourth largest illegal spam operation in the world.

View video of Attorney General Abbott announcing lawsuit

Attorney General Abbott was joined by Houston-area residents Joe Shields and Bruce Paige. Mr. Shields said he has had to abandon several personal e-mail accounts after they were overwhelmed with thousands of spam e-mails. Mr. Paige receives about 150 to 200 spam e-mails every day, advertising everything from medical products to mortgage refinancing. He said he has tried to set up filters to delete incoming spam, but the strong filters sometimes get rid of e-mail he didn’t intend to throw away.

Internet service providers and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also supported the Attorney General’s spam-fighting efforts. Like Mr. Coffman, Microsoft Corp. forwarded to OAG investigators e-mails captured in its trap e-mail accounts. In only a six-month period last year, these undercover accounts alone received 24,000 illegal e-mails sent by the defendants. The FTC provided the OAG access to its database of spam complaints.

When opened, most e-mails sent by the defendants contained hyped-up language pitching mortgage refinancing services, even though the defendants are not licensed in Texas to provide such services. Consumers often responded to these e-mails by providing additional information after being told their privacy would be protected. Instead, the defendants sold the information as sales leads to other companies for as much as $28 per lead.

Read the full Lawsuit Against PayPerAction Et Al. here

Consumer Tips on SPAM Prevention

MASS Attorney General Press Release - October 7, 2004

BOSTON - A Florida-based company accused of sending thousands of unsolicited electronic messages — commonly referred to as “spam” — in violation of state and federal law, must pay $25,000 and put an end to the practice, Attorney General Tom Reilly announced today.

The settlement, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, resolves allegations that DC Enterprises, an unincorporated business, and its company principal, William C. Carson of Weston, Florida sent thousands of commercial e-mails from a business address in Newton, where the company had no physical presence. These allegations, outlined in a June 2004 lawsuit filed by AG Reilly, violate the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act and the new federal CAN-SPAM Act.

AG Reilly’s June lawsuit was the first enforcement action taken by a state under the federal CAN-SPAM Act, which went into effect on January 1. The settlement with DC Enterprises resolves allegations that the company failed to include an opt-out provision, which allows consumers to decline future e-mails; failed to clearly identify messages as advertisements; and used a non-functioning sender address when disseminating messages, all of which violate the federal law that protects against unwanted spam and the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.

The spam allegedly sent by DC Enterprises touted low interest mortgage loans for anyone, even consumers with bad credit and included a link to a loan application that required applicants to provide personal and financial information. When consumers clicked on the “opt-out” button at the bottom of the application, the function failed to work. Consumers who attempted to reply directly to DC Enterprises by e-mail discovered that the company’s sender addresses were not valid. Those who sent postal letters to the addresses listed in their e-mails - DC Enterprises, Paragon Towers, 233 Needham Street, Suite 300, Newton, MA – received no response.

AG Reilly’s settlement also prohibits DC Enterprises, Carson, and anyone acting on their behalf from violating the federal CAN-SPAM Act, the Massachusetts Mortgage Broker Statute or the Massachusetts Advertising Regulations. These laws require mortgage brokers who advertise in Massachusetts to display their license numbers on all advertisements and their messages must contain a conspicuous notification to recipients that they are an advertisement or solicitation.