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FBI Raids Home of Spam King Alan Ralsky
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Sun Oct 16, 2005 02:26 PM
from the click-here-to-enlarge-your-prison-cell dept.
from the click-here-to-enlarge-your-prison-cell dept.
wstearns writes "The Detroit News is reporting that the FBI has raided Alan Ralsky's home. In the raid, the FBI took computers and financial records, effectively shutting him down. Mr. Ralsky has been frequently covered here."
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Spammer Alan Ralsky Indicted 206 comments
Several users have written to tell us that notorious spammer Alan Ralsky has been indicted along with ten others on 41 counts of spam-related illegal activity. Ralsky has had trouble with the law in the past, and the current litany of charges includes mail and wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and violation of federal spamming laws. From the Detroit Free Press:
"The 41-count indictment said Ralsky ... and others used unsolicited e-mail to pump up the price of largely worthless stock in Chinese companies and sold the stock reaping huge profits and leaving Internet subscribers who purchased it holding the bag. The operation also used illegal methods to maximize the amount of spam that could be sent while evading spam-blocking devices and tricked recipients into opening and acting on advertisements, prosecutors said."
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Will I be notified (Score:5, Funny)
Hell the guy from nigeria didn't write me for a while, I'll send him an E-Mail. I'm still waiting for a large transaction
The FBI will e-mail you (Score:5, Funny)
DeAR u.ser
Precvio3sly you have b33n victim of unsol.citated e-mail, so called s.pam selling u v1agra and p.enis enlarg.ements products, us.iNG aNNoying layouts ant teipos to confu..se your s.p.a.m..filters.
The FBI now offers you the ReA.L links to the places where you can buy your V.1agrA and P.eniSEnlar.gement produCTs for the real pr1ce without the middle S.P.am man.
Please go to v1agrahfDUgfapitdrGPSRGf.fbi.gov for the fastest S$hop
Parent
Re:Will I be notified (Score:5, Insightful)
they just took away his stuff, how lame! he committed a crime and should be punished.
Ya know, as big of a sleezeball as we might think he is, the FBI doesn't (nor should it) have the authority to punish him for whatever crimes you think he might have committed.
That role is reserved for juries and judges.
Parent
you don't understand investigations. (Score:5, Informative)
They didn't just take away his stuff. They took away his stuff, to then copy it onto network storage. Then copy the drives onto otpical media. Then copy it onto hard drives. All while leaving the originals unmodified. Then they will analyze the data to gather evidence.
It would be real sweet to know the domains that they used so that every spam victim can file suit against Ralsky and Bradley. We can take out spammers with distributed lawsuits. A spammer can survive 1,2 or maybe 10 lawsuits, but can they survive 100? I, with help, took out Avtech [barbieslapp.com].
I tracked down a big time ink spammer [barbieslapp.com], going under the name of payless inks, top quality inks, inks on sale. I posted the strings to search for on my spam page [barbieslapp.com] so that any spam victim can file suit. If you file suit, contact me and I'd be happy to serve the summons and complaint.
Parent
In Other News... (Score:5, Funny)
What about his crown? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What about his crown? (Score:5, Funny)
Am I allowed to ask who's going to get the Royal Shaft?
Parent
Oh no! (Score:5, Funny)
That explains it (Score:5, Funny)
This isn't news for nerds.. (Score:5, Funny)
I'm shocked...SHOCKED.... (Score:5, Funny)
Call your FBI and say thanks! (Score:5, Interesting)
The agent was amazed and replied "uh thank you. We don't get calls like this very often."
OMG. Wow.
This is an excellent opportunity to show your support that we STRONGLY support their action and efforts!
If they know their is huge public support for this, that may help them to shut down more of these spammers!
This is AWESOME!
Just call and say thanks and this will keep things moving in the right direction.
w00t!
Re:Call your FBI and say thanks! (Score:4, Insightful)
Hold your horses. Why was he "raided"? What law did he break? Did you break the same law last week?
I hate spammers with a passion, but I like my freedom a little more than they are irritating to me.
Parent
Re:Call your FBI and say thanks! (Score:5, Insightful)
If you hardly get any spam at all, then why do you need *TWO* spam filters?
You *GET* lots of spam - just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.
Parent
Re:Call your FBI and say thanks! (Score:5, Insightful)
No, I don't get lots of spam. Most of it is denied at the SMTP protocol level and is never even written to disk. Most of the rest is filtered out based on content and /dev/null'd before it reaches the mailbox delivery step. The client side filter is then left to handle the very small quantity of mail that is difficult to discern with more general measures and makes it past the SMTP and MDA level and is of course then downloaded by the useragent for fine-tuning of the local filter.
Okay, I've seen responses like this in the past, and I'll admit that I have little knowledge of how the whole thing works (because I'm not really interested as long as it works). However, whether those messages are being dumped into my throw-away hotmail account's junk folder or being transported *somewhere*, they are being written to disk somewhere. They are also using up bandwidth during transport, and that bandwidth is not being paid for by the spammers. I don't understand the logic of people who claim spam is not a problem just because they don't see any in their inbox. That seems a bit like claiming that the termites aren't really a problem because your house hasn't fallen down yet.
Parent
A Step Forward In the Fight Against Spam (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason spammers operate is because it has been profitable for them due to their operating expenses (apathetic law enforcement, hazy jurisdiction, theft of third-party bandwidth and resources).
As more of these people get raided and have to deal with serious legal and criminal issues, the "cost" of operating will go up substantially, and as a result, it will not be as profitable for them to operate.
Let's hope the FBI follows through on this and puts this guy in jail. There's no doubt he committed a ton of crimes, including computer tampering, pornography, identity theft, etc. Spammers routinely break loads of laws in operating their business. Finally, we're seeing some agencies start to enforce these laws.
Ralsky isn't the worst.. (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Charged with what? (Score:5, Informative)
if you read the article (not slashdotted yet):
The law also forbids spammers from using multiple e-mail addresses or domain names to camouflage their identities. Penalties include up to 20 years' imprisonment and an $11,000 fine per offense.
Warrants show FBI agents sought evidence Ralsky and Bradley sent commercial e-mail using at least 14 domain names.
Parent
Re:Charged with what? (Score:5, Interesting)
So let's only imprison him for one hour..
Parent
Re:Charged with what? (Score:5, Insightful)
All higher costs incurred by the ISP are passed along to the consumer, ergo all of the damage is done to the user, though indirectly.
Parent
Re:Too bad... (deprived of property w/o due proces (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Too bad... (deprived of property w/o due proces (Score:4, Insightful)
From the Wikipedia article on due process [wikipedia.org]:
Was he notified before the raid? Did he get a chance to be heard and to oppose the raid before it happened? I know he will have an opportunity to do so in the trial (if there is one), but the point is that even now his livelihood has already been destroyed.
I know it's hard to sympathise with Ralsky, but this could also happen to many other people if they are sued by the RIAA or MPAA, using exactly the same legal principle.
Parent
Re:Too bad... (deprived of property w/o due proces (Score:4, Informative)
Apparently, he is getting due process.
Parent
Re:Waste of tax dollars (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Waste of tax dollars (Score:5, Insightful)
He might not go round clubbing people and taking their money, but he's still a big time criminal, defrauding people of millions of dollars. He's causing economic harm on massive scales, and the people being hurt are more often than not the elderly.
He's also an easy target since he publically boasts about what he does, the FBI would be considered neglectful if they didn't take him down.
Parent