p2pnet - rss feed: SPAM - from the inside
Synergy6 Inc, an e-mail marketing company based in New York, and Scott Richter, said to be the world’s third-largest spammer, are the first targets in an anti-SPAM campaign launched by New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer and Microsoft.
The SPAM in question advertised, among other things, penis enlargement products, human growth hormone, sexual enhancers and "the opportunity to meet Russian women for potential marriage," says the case sheet.
America’s Can Spam law won’t do a whole lot against e-garbage. In fact, in and of itself, it’s a form of virtual email junk which will probably cost US taxpayers a lot of money .
But the world’s largest software maker teaming up with New York State is another story. Literally.
Following a six-month investigation and "collaboration" with New York State attorney general Eliot Spitzer, Microsoft has filed parallel lawsuits against a New York-based spamming ring allegedly responsible for sending billions of illegal and deceptive e-mail messages.
Some of the SPAM appeared to come from a foreign government’s defense ministry, others from a hospital, and still more from elementary and high schools.
"Spitzer and Microsoft united in legal actions against Synergy6 Inc., an e-mail marketing company based in New York, and Scott Richter, who has been dubbed the world’s third-largest spammer by ROKSO, the Register of Known Spam Operations, which is listed on http://www.spamhaus.org/ , an anti-spam and consumer advocacy organization," says a press statement.
"Authorities allege that Richter and his accomplices in Washington, Texas and New York are responsible for seven illegal spam campaigns, each in violation of consumer protection statutes in New York and Washington. These campaigns used common spam techniques such as forged sender names, false subject lines, fake server names, inaccurate and misrepresented sender addresses, or obscured transmission paths.
"The lawsuits charge Richter and his accomplices with responsibility for sending illegal spam through 514 compromised Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in 35 countries spanning six continents. In addition to the lawsuit Microsoft filed in tandem with Spitzer, the company filed an additional five lawsuits against other spammers who allegedly used the same transmission path in New York that originally led investigators to Richter and the spam network."
Investigators at Microsoft discovered a high volume of spam e-mail originating from a compromised IP address in New York and tracing back to an e-mail marketing company also based in New York, Synergy6, the lawsuits allege.
With cooperation from Microsoft, the New York attorney general’s Office tracked these e-mail messages to identify separate marketing campaigns that passed through 514 IP addresses around the world. The investigation identified Richter in Colorado and his partners in Washington, Texas and New York as responsible for the campaigns.
The legal action taken today is only one part of Microsoft’s approach to combating spam, says the company, going on that it’s also implementing anti-spam technology features such spam-filtering SmartScreen, which is already included in Outlook 2003, MSN 8 and Hotmail. "These features soon will be available in a new add-on for Exchange Server 2003 called Microsoft Exchange Intelligent Message Filter," says MS.
Here’s a fascinating summary of the allegations in the six anti-spam lawsuits filed by Microsoft on Dec. 17, 2003.
Now read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Defendants: Synergy6 Inc. (New York); Justin Champion, President of Synergy6 Inc. (New York); OptInRealBig.com LLC (Westminster, Colo.);
Scott Richter, President of OptInRealBig.com LLC (Westminster, Colo.);
Denny Cole (Dallas, Texas); and,
Delta7 Communications (Plano, Texas, and Bothell, Wash.).
King County Superior Court, Case No. 03-2-12559-8 SEA.
Alleged Spam Activity:
The defendants are allegedly responsible for seven illegal spam campaigns, each in violation of New York and Washington state law:
– The campaigns, which offered "free" items in exchange for personal information and consent to receive future marketing offers, used false sender names, false subject lines, fake server names, inaccurate and misrepresented sender e-mail addresses, or obscured transmission paths.
– The messages were routed through at least 514 Internet addresses throughout the world, in 35 countries on six continents, including addresses belonging to the Kuwait Ministries of Communication and Finance, several schools in Korea, the Seoul Municipal Boramae Hospital, and the Virginia Community College System.
– The allegedly falsified sender e-mail addresses used 105 different domains, including hotmail.com, aol.com, earthlink.net and yahoo.com.
Defendants: Jonathan Huang and Ann Le Dangtran doing business as AJ Imports, Enhance Institute and Epar Inc.
King County Superior Court, Case No. 03-2-12358-7 SEA.
Alleged spam activity:
Defendants are allegedly responsible for millions of illegal spam messages that advertised penis enlargement products.
– The spam used false sender names, fake server names, inaccurate and misrepresented sender e-mail addresses, or obscured transmission paths.
– The falsified sender e-mail addresses and the fake server names abused well-known domain names, including Microsoft’s msn.com domain, aol.com, bellsouth.net, netscape.net and yahoo.com.
– Some of the transmission paths falsely indicated that the e-mail traveled through computers belonging to the U.S. Department of Defense.
– The spam was routed, in part, through a compromised IP address in New York.
Defendants: Nutriworx Inc.;
Robert McCarter; Jeffrey Katz; and,
John Does 1-50.
King County Superior Court, Case No. 03-2-12354-4 SEA.
Alleged spam activity:
Defendants are allegedly responsible for millions of illegal spam messages that advertised a human growth hormone product.
– The spam used false sender names, fake server names, inaccurate and misrepresented sender e-mail addresses, or obscured transmission paths.
– The falsified sender e-mail addresses and fake server names abused well-known domain names, including Microsoft’s hotmail.com, aol.com and yahoo.com.
– The spam used deceptive subject lines, which were designed to make recipients believe that they had a pre-existing business or personal relationship with the sender, such as "[Recipient], Why?" and "Hey! [Recipient]."
– The spam was routed, in part, through a compromised IP address in New York.
Defendants: Teslianet Inc; and,
John Does 1-50.
King County Superior Court, Case No. 03-2-12355-2 SEA.
Alleged spam activity:
Defendants are allegedly responsible for millions of illegal spam messages that advertised potentially offensive adult content, such as "real live amateur girls" and "amateur p0rn [sic]."
– The spam used blank To, From and Subject lines, giving recipients no indication of the potentially offensive adult content.
– The text of the spam messages contained falsified sender names, inaccurate and misrepresented sender e-mail addresses, or obscured transmission paths.
– The falsified sender e-mail addresses abused well-known domain names, including Microsoft’s hotmail.com, juno.com and yahoo.com.
– The spam was routed, in part, through a compromised IP address in New York.
Defendants: Webmed-RX.com;
Safemed-RX.com; and,
John Does 1-50.
King County Superior Court, Case No. 03-2-12356-1 SEA.
Alleged spam activity:
Defendants are allegedly responsible for millions of illegal spam messages that solicited online sales of Viagra.
– The spam used false sender names, fake server names, inaccurate and misrepresented sender e-mail addresses, or obscured transmission paths.
– The falsified sender e-mail addresses and the fake server names abused well-known domain names, including Microsoft’s msn.com, aol.com, netscape.net and yahoo.com.
– The spam was routed, in part, through a compromised IP address in New York.
Defendants: Boxplay 5.com; and,
John Does 1-50.
King County Superior Court, Case No. 03-2-12357-9 SEA.
Alleged spam activity:
Defendants are allegedly responsible for millions of illegal spam messages that advertised a range of products and services including weight-loss soap, sexual enhancers, and the opportunity to meet Russian women for potential marriage.
– The spam used inaccurate and misrepresented sender e-mail addresses, false server names, or obscured transmission paths.
– The falsified sender e-mail addresses and fake server names abused well-known domain names, including Microsoft’s hotmail.com.
– The spam used deceptive subject lines, which were designed to make recipients believe that they had a pre-existing business or personal relationship with the sender, such as "do you like this?", "Please get in touch with me" and "Give me one good reason."
– The spam was routed, in part, through a compromised IP address in New York.
January 11th, 2006 at 11:30 am
Synergy6 and Justin Champion were completely exonerated of these charges January 10, 2006.
The ruling from the court found that the State had no evidence whatsoever of any activity which was known by Synergy6 or Mr. Champion and that their supporting law was all not applicable to this case. All charges were dismissed.