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Spam King to Sing For Feds?

Posted by Zonk on Sat Apr 29, 2006 10:29 PM
from the chirp-chirp dept.
Spam The Courts The Internet
Vainglorious Coward writes "Infoworld is repeating the rumours that Alan 'spam king' Ralsky has been arrested by the Feds. With the file sealed for 72 hours, the article claims the underworld is abuzz with concern that, faced with enough evidence to put him in jail, Ralsky will squeal on his associates. We should know in the next couple of days whether any of the roaches scurrying for cover are going to get stomped."

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[+] Slashback: Walmart and Wiki, Alan Ralsky 119 comments
Slashback, as always, provides updates and clarifications to previous Slashdot stories. Tonight we bring you updates on Australian Smart ID Cards, the security danger that USB memory sticks pose, Wal-Mart's Wikipedia War, Lego Mindstorms, LiveJournal's stance on Ad-Blocking software, and news about 'Spam King' Alan Ralsky. Read on for more.
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  • finally... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Beuno (740018) <argentina@@@gmail...com> on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:33PM (#15230517) Homepage
    Finally they stopped chasing petty warez and went after people who actually profit and annoy the hell out of everyone else...

    • Re:finally... (Score:2)

      by tsa (15680)
      I must say I get much less spam since they picked up some big spammers. Getting those people in jail helps a lot. Anyone else have this experience?
      • I'm noticing less variety for sure.

        Instead of 700 emails trying to sell 600 different items, I now get 400 emails trying to sell me 30 different items.

      • Re:finally... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by XXIstCenturyBoy (617054) on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:48PM (#15230560)
        Yes. The old and the elderly, the easily convincable, the influencable people. They do not prey on the slashdot tech crowd (although sometime ones wonder), but on people who don't know better. They've been told that one can have good deals online, that you can find anything on there.

        And you have to remember that there is not only porn and penis enlargement offer sent, but low mortgage loan offer, the chance to find a lost friend, travels or even online casinos deals. Poker is a big thing right now, and interests rates very low, its tempting for a lot of people.
        [ Parent ]
      • You think they send all those emails for free, out of the goodness of their hearts? You think the lists of "confirmed working" emails are free?

      • Re:Petty Warez? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Mr. Hankey (95668) on Sunday April 30 2006, @03:49AM (#15231108) Homepage
        It's a waste of taxpayer dollars to go chasing after P2P "warez" traders. Petty, irresponsible and ridiculous. On the other hand, taking down someone who floods the internet with gigabytes, perhaps terabytes of garbage, slowing down the connections of businesses and individuals alike for personal gain, filling everyone's inboxes with lewd advertisements for porn and "enhancements"... There's simply no comparison here.
        [ Parent ]

  • Mob Justice (Score:5, Funny)

    by amoeba47 (882560) on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:34PM (#15230520)
    I vote for mob justice. Throw him into a locked room filled with the pissed off masses fed up with too much ludicrous junk mail.

    • let's test some of this stuff on him (Score:4, Funny)

      by r00t (33219) on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:59PM (#15230587) Journal
      We can start with the MAKE PENIS FAST [rutgers.edu] chain letter, just for fun.

      He won't mind. There is a distinct possibility of failure, but if things go rotten he can always take a few penis pills.

      (one wonders... if vitamin pills contain vitamins and garlic pills contain garlic, what might penis pills contain?)

      [ Parent ]

    • Re:Mob Justice (Score:3, Funny)

      by Cheapy (809643)
      Or they could throw him into a cell with Bruno, you got quite a few 'member enlargement' packages that "REALLY WORKED!"

      Bruno could show him just how well they worked... ;)
    • Turn him loose on the streets. Rumor will be abuzz that he cut a deal with the Feds, and someone is bound to put a contract on his head, compelling him to turn state evidence.
        • The AK-47 is still the most widely used rifle in the world. Many militaries use it, as well as police and terrorist organizations. It's an extremely rugged, reliable weapon with good accuracy. In many ways I prefer it to the M16. That being said, I thi

  • I'm sure.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by schmiddy (599730) <`schmiddy' `at' `gmail.com'> on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:38PM (#15230530) Homepage Journal
    the underworld is abuzz with concern that, faced with enough evidence to put him in jail, Ralsky will squeal on his associates

    I'm sure Mr. Ralsky's associates have nothing to fear. An upstanding, honest businessman such as himself would never rat on his friends.

    • Re:I'm sure.. (Score:3, Funny)

      by rishistar (662278)
      I disagree. I'm sure iff he gets put in the showers with recipients of his penis enlargement offers he'll do quite a bit of squealing.
      • He won't be in "gaol" unless you Brits (or Aussies, or whoever) go extradite him and prosecute him too. Not that I have any problem with that, after we're done with him.

        But actually, it's only "jail" for now - if we're lucky it'll be followed by "prison"

  • Singing (Score:5, Funny)

    by AuMatar (183847) on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:39PM (#15230532)
    Thats singing contralto, right? I mean, we are going to punish that slime in an appropriate manner.

  • Prison too good for him! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ArcherB (796902) on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:40PM (#15230537) Journal
    Can we send this guy to Guantanamo? How about Abu Ghraib? How about if we glue a put a yamaka on his head and drop him off in downtown Tehran.

    • yamaka

      The term you are looking for is "Yarmulke". Unfortunately, it is pronounced exactly like "Yamaka".

      --This message brought to you from the Committee to Pronounce "Goethe" as "Gertha", and paid for by the Office of the Irish Taoiseach (pronounced, of co
      • The term you are looking for is "Yarmulke". Unfortunately, it is pronounced exactly like "Yamaka".

        Seeing as the word is Yiddish, which is written with the Hebrew alphabet, there isn't really any definitive spelling in the Roman alphabet. Same is true with

    • Re:Prison too good for him! (Score:5, Informative)

      by stinerman (812158) <nathan.stine@gma i l . c om> on Sunday April 30 2006, @12:04AM (#15230707) Homepage
      Any true Muslim wouldn't mind at all since Jews (and Christians) are People of the Book [wikipedia.org]
      [ Parent ]
      • In the very link [wikipedia.org] you provide, this is listed:

        Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold forbidden that which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of t

        • His point, I imagine, is that under Sharia the Jews, for example, have legal protections that heathens do not, including importantly having the protection of the law. There is in fact a very small community of Jews that lives in Iran, and in their parliam

        • Re:Prison too good for him! (Score:3, Informative)

          by killjoe (766577)
          Oddly enough during the inquisition the jews fled into the muslim controlled areas of spain, portugal and north africa where they were welcomed and protected from the christians.

          How times change huh? I remember when Russia and china were enemies, my parent
  • Before a slow and painful execution, he should have his anal sphincter jerked up around his adam's apple, his scrotum tied (in a proper square knot) behind his ears, then beat with a baseball bat until dead. ;)

  • But (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kratei (924454) on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:46PM (#15230558)
    Great news. But, will this stop or even slow down spam? No. Even if they got half the spammers out there it would keep coming. Why? Too much easy money out there for the taking. Even if they got evey one who operates in the US we would still have a problem overseas . . . and I really doubt that any administration - yes even this one - would invade say Nigeria simply to cut down on spam. Anyway, how are we going to stop chineese spammers? Invade China? Ask their govenment to cut out illegal buisness practices? Yeah right. One spam king may fall, but another will rise in his place.

    • Re:But (Score:3)

      by mrjb (547783)
      Even if they got evey one who operates in the US we would still have a problem overseas
      That's a bit short-sighted. It would get rid of the majority of all spam, considering that the U.S. is the main source of all spam [spamhaus.org]. China, although being the most pop [bbc.co.uk]

    • no point in playing whack-a-mole (Score:5, Interesting)

      by v1 (525388) on Sunday April 30 2006, @10:28AM (#15232040) Homepage Journal
      When legitimate businesses hire cockroaches to do their "dirty work" of spamming, the roaches aren't worth going after. You can stomp them all day and they just keep coming for the easy money. And they're hard to hit and they know it.

      You have to go after the businesses that hire the scum.

      I am trying that currently. In September I submitted an email address to Ford's "have a dealer in your area contact you about a Hybrid". I got several responses from dealers. Three weeks ago, that email address (which I made specially for that purpose) started receiving spam, one per day. I sent a nastygram to Ford and the dealers that responded to me asking who it was that sold my email address, in violation of their privacy policy as stated on their web site. One of the dealers replied, but the rest of the dealers AND Ford ignored my emails.

      Since then I have tried other emails to two of Ford's complaint addresses. One was ignored, and the other bounced with a "relaying denied" error.

      They know they are selling us out, and they really don't care. Businesses don't care about anything that doesn't cost them money, and if it MAKES them money, they care even less. Until it affects their wallet in the form of fines, legislation, and accountability, it won't stop.

      In my case it actually looks like the company that Ford pays to run their "have a dealer contact you" page ("morpace.com") is actually the one that is harvesting the email addresses that Ford's customers enter on the web page.. they forward your requet to the dealers per their business arrangement with Ford, AND add your name to their own internal spam mailing list that activates a few months later so you don't suspect their client (Ford) of having sold you out. You'd think that if Ford found out about this they'd be pissed and that would hit someone in the wallet, but so far my complaints have fallen only on deaf ears. I'm going to try calling them on Monday to see if anyone cares, though I'm guessing "no".

      It amazes me that Ford would risk pissing off a customer that is looking to buy a $28,000 product from them over maybe a quarter made by selling their email address to spammers.
      [ Parent ]

  • Let's be generous.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Fantasio (800086) on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:54PM (#15230574)
    With this kind of news, I'm in a good mood !

    If Ralsky deserves only one second of jail for each minute infuriated users have lost deleting his crap, this could ammount to thousands of years of jail.

    I'll be generous and I'll accept that his time in jail be divided by ten if he tells the Feds everything he knows !

    Cheers !

  • Those who live in toilet paper houses should not fling poo else they find themselves being used to wipe the backside of someone bigger and meaner.

    I have no idea how this statement applies; it just seems appropriate.

  • Rumor control... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Eggplant62 (120514) on Saturday April 29 2006, @10:57PM (#15230582)
    Take this whole thing with a grain of salt. There has been no reputable source that has provided this information; it's simply a rumor. Steve Linford has posted on news.admin.net-abuse.email [tinyurl.com] that he knows nothing about Ralsky being taken into custody, and other reliable sources in the antispam forces known to me have no further information to corroborate this story.

    Still, it's good news if it turns out to be true. I guess if we don't hear anything by Tuesday or Wednesday, given enough time for the rumored 72 hour seal on Ralsky's indictment to expire, we'll know whether this is bullshit or not.
  • He'll be squealing for his new associates.

  • Ralsky has been in jail before (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bellhead (236422) on Saturday April 29 2006, @11:34PM (#15230659) Homepage
    If this rumor is true, it'll mean major sweeps of the spam underworld and many of its hangers-on: Ralsky has been behind bars before, and I doubt he's willing to go back.

    According to the Spam Daily News - (http://www.spamdailynews.com/publish/FBI_raid_shu ts_down_world_most_prolific_spammer.asp)

    However, Ralsky acknowledges that his success with spam arose out of a less-than-impressive business background. In 1992, while in the insurance business, he served a 50-day jail term for a charge arising out of the sale of unregistered securities. And in 1994, he was convicted of falsifying documents that defrauded financial institutions in Michigan and Ohio and ordered to pay $74,000 in restitution.

    Of course, this could bode well or ill for prosecutors: Ralsky has been in jail, perhaps for just long enough to be scared of it. The question is: did he get hard enough to stare them down?

    My bet is that he'd do the deal: he's a con artist, after all, but he's shared a bunk with real hardened felons, and that's likely to be the kiss-of-death for his co-conspirators when push comes to shove.

    Bellhead

  • Slashdot Crowd loves Federal Government (Score:4, Funny)

    by achesloc (697690) on Sunday April 30 2006, @12:59AM (#15230789)
    If (Feds.prosecute() == Spammer)
            slashdotCrowd.getsSuperExcited();
    else if (Feds.prosecute() == AnybodyElse)
            slashdotCrowd.getsSuperMad();

  • poor guy (Score:5, Funny)

    by spongman (182339) on Sunday April 30 2006, @03:04AM (#15231034)
    If you're reading this Alan, I've got some excellent 'Get Out Of Jail Free' pills you might be interested in...

  • That's GOTTA Hurt! (Score:3, Funny)

    by pandrijeczko (588093) on Sunday April 30 2006, @04:31AM (#15231165)
    Simple spammer torture:

    Make the spammer have one of his own penis enlargements he's always telling us are so great & just as he's nice, red & sore after the operation, start feeding him the viagra he's alway telling us is so great. :-)

    Ouch!

  • Genuine offer!!! (Score:4, Funny)

    by gijoel (628142) on Sunday April 30 2006, @04:48AM (#15231185)
    Hello my name is Tunde Bamake and I am writting to you to offer an amazing deal.

    Recently an associate of mine Alan Rasky was arrested by the FBI on charges of sending spam and unsolicted emails. I assure you my friend that these charges are totally unfounded and he really needs your help.

    He has $10,000,000 ten million dollars sitting in a Swiss bank account which he needs to pay for his lawyers. He can not get that money because the FBI will confiscate it if he trys to access it.

    My friend, I am asking you as a Christian to help my friend Mr Rasky with little effort from yourself. All you have to do is allow us to transfer the $10,000,000 TEN MILLION DOLLARS through your personal account.

    This will be at no risk or effort to yourself. Mr Ramsky understands the effort you will be going through and thus is offering you $250,000 TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for your help.

    Please my friend, I ask you to help Mr Ramsky in his hour of need.

  • Pop quiz: which of these wastes more time? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by njdj (458173) on Sunday April 30 2006, @05:07AM (#15231236)

    Which of the following wastes more of your time:

    1. Spam
    2. Unsubstantiated rumors on Slashdot

    Personally, I have a pretty good spam filter so it's #2 by a large margin.

  • mob mentality (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sl4shd0rk (755837) on Sunday April 30 2006, @06:35AM (#15231363)
    It's been interesting reading over the replies and how quickly mob mentality gets perpetuated. One dude wanted to beat him with a baseball bat until dead. Spam is annoying and intrusive, but what's spooky is how the witch-hunt sets in when so many people feed off each other. Besides, if you think this one bust is going to stop spam and phishing you're sadly mistaken. People need to be educated on email use just like they do for using their computer. The spam/phishing problem is largely an ignorance issue. Maybe Best Buy should start including some web-use educational material in that shrink wrap.

    • Re:mob mentality (Score:3, Insightful)

      by deacon (40533)
      Here is an experiment we can try to help you understand how things got this way.

      Let me come over and follow you around everwhere you go. At random intervals I shall tap you on the head from behind with a pencil. After you flip out (after an hour? a day?) a

  • opt out (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tom (822) on Sunday April 30 2006, @07:28AM (#15231453) Homepage Journal
    He can always out-out of that prison sentence, right? Just a mail with "remove me"...
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