Top spammer Nabbed!

[stubeeef]

Link (http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/07/07/spam-king-arrested-cx_vnu_0707spam.html?partner=yahootix&referrer=\) Suspected spam supremo Christopher Smith, nicknamed the Rizler, will appear in court today after being arrested in a midnight operation at a Minneapolis airport.

Smith was apprehended shortly after stepping off a flight from the Dominican Republic, where he had been operating since a U.S. federal judge in May shut down his companies, Burnsville Internet and Xpress Pharmacy Direct, and ordered him to stop selling drugs online.

Since the court injunction, Smith had set up similar operations in the Dominican Republic, through which he is alleged to have sent more than a billion spam e-mails either to America Online e-mail addresses or through AOL e-mail accounts. AOL is a division of Time Warner (nyse: TWX - news - people ).

The FBI claims that Smith has already made about $18 million this year.

The law enforcement agency said Smith, 25, flew to the Dominican Republic under a false passport and used a cash card to obtain money from a bank account, after his own had been seized by a court order.

His wife Anita, his Minnesota girlfriend and several others brought him thousands of dollars in cash.

Federal authorities raided Xpress Pharmacy and Smith's home on May 10, seizing his passport and $4.2 million in assets, including a $1.1 million house and luxury cars worth $1.8 million. At the same time, the FBI closed down his 85-employee company.


more at the link.

This is good news, send him to federal pound'm in the a$$ prison.

[andiwm2003]

some got it all. his wife and his girlfriend brought him cash :eek:

well, i hope he ends up for ten years in state prison.

[kgarner]

They have the death penalty for spammers, right?

[Plymouthbreezer]

So, that's who all that SPAM was coming from! :eek: :rolleyes:

[angelneo]

What the......??!!

Earning $18 million in a year spamming all of us.... I hope hell has a special spot just for him....

[Doctor Q]

Hooray! I'm glad they caught this guy. I think I'll e-mail Smith right now and tell him what a low opinion I have of him. What's his e-mail address?

[ham_man]

Glad that one of the more prolific spammers (18 million in one year :eek: ) has been caught. And like stubeef, I hope that he does get sent to federal pound'm in the *** prison... :rolleyes:

[evilernie]

I hope he does time, and I hope some fellow prisoners cram his outbox...if you get my drift. ;)

[wdlove]

If he is responsible for the multiple messages that I receive about drugs daily, good to see that he's nabbed. It certainly sounds like there is a lot of money to be made in this venture. Hopefully his girlfriend won't continue the same work.

[Counterfit]

I hope he does time, and I hope some fellow prisoners cram his outbox...if you get my drift. ;)
Maybe they'll stuff his inbox too :eek:

[mvc]

Maybe they'll stuff his inbox too :eek:

Aaarhhg

Must purge images from mind...
:eek:

[Apple Hobo]

and I hope some fellow prisoners cram his outbox...if you get my drift. ;)


And I hope those prisoners took advantage of the numerous penis enlargement products from the spam.

[ecche]

...and bought viagra

[wdlove]

So far the arrest of this spammer hasn't decreased the amount of drug messages that I'm receiving. Either they were already in the pipe line, they aren't from him, or a new person has taken over. :( :eek:

[iBlue]

HAHAHA I am dying laughing at these replies - & I see fellow Office Space fans come here :D

[Duff-Man]

Duff-Man says....this is just one scumbag out of countless and is not likely to make more than just a trivial difference for a few days, if even that. Until *all* countries and ISP's decide to get tough with these useless twirps then it is going to be business as usual.....oh yeah!

[topicolo]

What the......??!!

Earning $18 million in a year spamming all of us.... I hope hell has a special spot just for him....

and the idiots who are paying him.

[Doctor Q]

Duff-Man says....this is just one scumbag out of countless...I'm not so sure about that. I thought I read that a remarkably few number of spammers were responsible for a large percentage of spam. Does anybody know with more certainty whether there really are hundreds or thousands of mass spamming operations, or whether they are really coming from a few dozen main sources?

[Duff-Man]

I'm not so sure about that. I thought I read that a remarkably few number of spammers were responsible for a large percentage of spam. Does anybody know with more certainty whether there really are hundreds or thousands of mass spamming operations, or whether they are really coming from a few dozen main sources?
Duff-Man says....I don't have specific numbers to quote, but this is certainly not the first story of "top spammer nabbed" that we have ever seen and the amount of spam has kept increasing anyway...it is obviously such a lucrative "business" to get into that it is bound to attract more than just a handful of "hardcore spammers".....oh yeah!

[dubbz]

He should be hanged by his.. uhm.. bells.

[IJ Reilly]

Note that Smith was not arrested for spamming, but for selling drugs illegally. When spammers are apprehended, it's usually for some other criminal activity. They guys are really just old-fashioned con artists with a new gig. And yes, the money in fraud can be huge, which is why they do it (duh!). Read "Spam Kings" by Brian McWilliams for the lowdown on this new breed of old scumbag. Opened my eyes, that's for sure.