Spammer Faces Decades In Prison For Sending More Than 1 Million Spam Emails (suntimes.com) 146
mi quotes a report from Chicago Sun-Times: A man has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly sending more than a million spam emails. The indictment charges 36-year-old Michael Persaud of Scottsdale, Arizona, with 10 counts of wire fraud and seeks the forfeiture of four computers, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office. The indictment was returned Dec. 9, 2016, and was unsealed after Persaud was arrested last month in Arizona. Between 2012 and 2015, Persaud used multiple IP addresses and domains to send spam emails over at least nine networks, including several servers in Chicago, according to the indictment. He sent more than a million spam emails to people in the U.S. and abroad, using false names to register domains and creating fraudulent "from address" fields to conceal the fact that he was the one sending the emails. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
mi leaves us with some rather unpleasant imagery, writing: "Personally, I wish [the sentence] carried removal of 1 square millimeter of skin for each message instead."
mi leaves us with some rather unpleasant imagery, writing: "Personally, I wish [the sentence] carried removal of 1 square millimeter of skin for each message instead."
Good! (Score:5, Insightful)
A good beginning.
Re: (Score:3)
I was thinking the death penalty would be better. But I guess I can settle for life in prison for him.
Re: (Score:1)
I love to hate spam as much as the next guy. In fact I don't even like the actual spam, the meat sold in a can. Matter of fact, I agree that the bastard should spend some time in jail and I won't go and visit, but.... decades?!!! really!!!??? Outrageous!
Re: (Score:3)
The only thing outrageous about it is taking 4 years to do anything about it. 4 seconds would be acceptable.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Informative)
Wait!... You don't think the punishment may be a bit... draconian?!!! What is wrong with you people?
The headline is inaccurate clickbait, which unfortunately, seems to be happening a lot more with Slashdot lately.
That the maximum sentence based on the law - 10 counts of wire fraud of 20 years each. He's not going to be sentenced for 200, or even 20 years. Sentences anywhere from one to four years seems to be the norm for similar spam-related cases.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Wonder what sharia law would give him. Stoning to death, maybe the 4 years and 1000 lashes would work. Hanging is more western I think. Keelhaul would work too.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Interesting)
You don't think the punishment may be a bit... draconian?!!!
The numbers are the max allowed for that indictment, sentences that spammers get are a ridiculously low fraction of that.
I do think spamming should be punished harsher than murder, as the cost for the society is greater. Somehow people underestimate the harm if it is spread among many people. Like: you build a coal power plant that reduces the lives of 100k people by a year each -- you've committed the equivalent of more than 1000 murders, yet don't even get a fine for that.
On the other hand, I find the count of "more than 1 million spam emails" to be suspicious. A decade ago, spam response rate [techradar.com] was 1 in 12.5M, and I'd expect it to be way lower today. A spammer doesn't spam "for the evulz", he spams because it is profitable. A billion mails per campaign is a low figure, and a spammer doesn't build the infrastructure for just a single run.
Re: (Score:1)
Spam is just spam. The sentence seems way over the top. Consider M$ spamming every single user of Windows anal probe 10, repeatedly, or spamming all windows 7 and 8 users to switch to spamsalot windows 10. Which is worse the M$ hack of all of it's customers including spying on all the internet communications, keylogging, listening, scanning the hardisk drive, monitoring and recording all software installs. M$ has repeatedly spammed all of it's regular users right on their desktop.
So who is worse at this ti
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Spam is just spam. The sentence seems way over the top.
And murder is just murder. Making the society lose a few decades of life worth is as bad whether it's done by offing a single person or slightly inconveniencing a million. People tend to fail to recognize spammers as just as bad as murderers, just like they obsess about a plane crash that kills 100 while ignoring thousands who died in car crashes that day.
I can filter out the spammer and windows anal probe 10 users at completely and totally at the mercy of M$, right on their desktop, completely ublockable
Newsflash: you can block Windows anal probe 10 too, by keeping it away from your computer. And if you need to run that one program, or test whether you
Re: Good! (Score:3)
No. Causing thousands of persons to waste a few minutes of their life is not the same as killing somebody! For one thing their is no individual subject to extreme suffering. Your mind is warped, emotion driven, and cruel if you think a murderer and a spammer deserve the same punishment. Hey reading your comment wasted a lot of people's time how are you going to compensate them? Should makers of bad movies be convicted of murder too? You are a sicko if you want people killed for spamming you.
Re: (Score:3)
The average human lives about 40 million minutes, killing a random person will reduce their life by 20 million on average. Wasting 20 million minutes of people's time is equivalent, on a societal level, to murder.
Re: (Score:2)
Because time is all there is, and wasted time scales linearly. Right.
Re: (Score:2)
No. Causing thousands of persons to waste a few minutes of their life is not the same as killing somebody! For one thing their is no individual subject to extreme suffering. Your mind is warped, emotion driven, and cruel if you think a murderer and a spammer deserve the same punishment. Hey reading your comment wasted a lot of people's time how are you going to compensate them? Should makers of bad movies be convicted of murder too? You are a sicko if you want people killed for spamming you.
I'm at a loss as to how GP is even arguing this with a straight face. Really? The taking of someone's life is the equivalent of spamming tf out of millions of people? We are so fucked, as a species.
Re: (Score:1)
I do think spamming should be punished harsher than murder
... and that's where you stopped making sense... Sorry.
Re: (Score:2)
In practice, he won't get nearly the max and will be eligible for parole even sooner. Personally, I would be fine with a suspended sentence as long as he never sends or receives another email.
Re: (Score:2)
Experience shows that spammers tend to re-offend.
Re: (Score:2)
That's why parole and probation officers exist. If he re-offends, that whole sentence comes down on him without the need for a new trial.
Re: Good! (Score:1)
Newsflash: the election is over (Score:3)
The election is over. The criminal slimeball you have a hard-on for lost, so you can be happy now. Hillary is no longer relevant.
Unfortunately, in the process of Hillary losing, Trump won. That sucks but oh well. He's done a couple good things, maybe he'll do more. Anyway, the election is over and he's President for the next four years.
In three years it'll be time to talk about candidates again. Hopefully we'll have a good one. Until then, let's talk about news for nerds, stuff that matters.
Re:Good! (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
You mean outbox, right?
Re: !Good (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Consider how much life this man was wasted... probably in the aggregate several lifetimes... his sentence should roughly equal the number human hours he has wasted.
Re:Maybe I'm getting old... (Score:5, Insightful)
his sentence should roughly equal the number human hours he has wasted.
No it shouldn't. The "lock em' up" mentality is why America has more than four times the incarceration rate of either China or Russia, and an even more disproportionate rate compared to almost any other country. Prison should be used to isolate irredeemably violent people from civilized society. For everyone else, there are better alternative punishments. For instance, this guy could be sentenced to spend 60 hours per week cleaning bedpans at a nursing home for the next 10 years, or some other suitable punishment where he can contribute to society rather than being a drain.
Re: Maybe I'm getting old... (Score:1, Insightful)
And who pays for his survival while he is doing his good deeds. You are clueless as the rest.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You are aware we have for profit prisons ?
He is going to be doing something.
Re: (Score:2)
Prison numbers have been driven by minimum mandatory sentences for drug offenses since the 90's, not a "lock 'em up" mentality.
It's the same thing
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately the remaining US spammers are hardcore recidivists who have repeatedly demonstrated that once released they will continue their activities as soon as they think they can get away with it.
Many already have a number of other convictions for assorted white collar and violent crimes by the time they're apprehended for spamming and virtually all think they have a god-given right to spam and that the authorities are impeding their rights to free speech (the idea of tresspass to chattels and "free sp
Re: (Score:2)
Assuming it takes on average 10 seconds to identify and delete the email; some people are slower, the average slashdot user is faster, that's 116 days the guy wasted. Nice try though.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
I don't like spammers either, but you need professional psychiatric help as soon as possible, seriously, you've lost touch with your humanity.
Re: (Score:2)
Come on now, bro, all the one guy did was kill someone.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't ever want to hear Trump say that he hates how biased Slashdot is....
Re: (Score:1)
"...After eight years of being racist, dissent is patriotic once again..."
Dissent was never patriotic, it was just accepted as a by product of freedom. Now however PC hypocrisy seems to override all things.
Re: (Score:2)
Dissent was never patriotic, it was just accepted as a by product of freedom. Now however PC hypocrisy seems to override all things.
The cry has been that when war is declared, all opposition should therefore be hushed. A sentiment more unworthy of a free country could hardly be propagated. If the doctrine be admitted, rulers have only to declare war and they are screened at once from scrutiny In war, then, as in peace, assert the freedom of speech and of the press. Cling to this as the bulwark of all our rights and privileges. - William Ellery Channing (1780-1842)
If dissent at a time of war is to be ennobled as a principle of democracy
Re: (Score:2)
A truer measure of freedom of speech and democracy would be harder to find than the ability to criticize publicly the policies and actions of a government. I may not agree with your point of view but I will defend your right to voice it.
I was responding to Mir's sig file specifically but your comments are spot on.
Re: (Score:2)
No, it's not. I'm thinking it's a little light.
Re:As much as I loathe spammers... (Score:5, Insightful)
the punishment is a way too excessive.
Locking people up and throwing away the keys like this should be reserved for murderers, rapists, arsonists, robbers, burglars, politicians, Madoff types, and maybe a handful of others.
This is just wasting jail space, costing us money, and destroying lives.
TFA is quite light on details, and let's remind ourselves that the trial hasn't happened yet. Nevertheless, he may very well be a "Madoff-type." If the defendant was complicit in perpetrating (e-)mail fraud, with the result that people were bilked out of money, then hard time is appropriate.
Re: (Score:2)
Considering the overall scale of the economic crime of spamming, hard time is justified anyway.
In order to even _make_ the radar of enforcement authorities a spammer needs to be churning out billions of messages per day - which equates to distributed damage totals of tens of millions of dollars per year, with occasional spikes in damages when the scale of the attack overwhelms individual systems.
Wire fraud charges for anything related to what the spammer is peddling are simply a bonus. - As an accom
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Without gender.
Not yet by a long shot. (Score:2)
He was arrested and is out on bond, it's a long way from a conviction. And, Thailand might be looking good to him right now.
Re: (Score:2)
He's Muslim, no way that let him keep his passport.
That makes it an act of terrorism, right?
Re: (Score:2)
I do hope he does bolt to Thailand.
Thai police don't bother with extradition proceedings for wanted criminals, production of a flight warrant is more than enough to find him on a plane back to the USA within hours - and thanks to anally raping bandwith charges SE Asians generally _hate_ spammers even more than North Americans do.
while in prison... (Score:1)
While in prison, he should be given a diet of nothing but a certain fine Hormel product.
Just sayin'.
Re: (Score:2)
Line Copyright Infringement (Score:2)
If he sent 1 million fraudulent emails, why isn't it 1 million counts?
Re: (Score:2)
10 counts?
If he sent 1 million fraudulent emails, why isn't it 1 million counts?
Proving one million counts would take longer than the rest of his life, and in the mean time he would be out on bail, racking up legal fees that nobody will ever pay while lawyers argued each and every case.
Re: (Score:2)
If it was 1 million counts, he would NOT be out on bail.
Follow the MONEY (Score:1)
Who was paying this guy?
That's who should be locked up.
BUT
That will never happen.
They will just find another stooge to do their dirty work.
Re: (Score:2)
Where I work, the average employee receives nearly two hundred thousand spam messages per day.
Something is off -- I'm on many public mailing lists, git logs and so on, yet I see ~600 rejects per day, and my email server has a few other users. So either your company is a juicy target for a specific kind of fraud, or your number was obtained by scientific rectal extraction.
I just don't believe the OP (Score:2)
Where I work, the average employee receives nearly two hundred thousand spam messages per day.
Something is off -- I'm on many public mailing lists, git logs and so on, yet I see ~600 rejects per day, and my email server has a few other users. So either your company is a juicy target for a specific kind of fraud, or your number was obtained by scientific rectal extraction.
This. OP is prevaricating. Nobody experiences spamming on an individual basis with that frequency.
Re: (Score:2)
Whenever I count I see 10,000 SPAM attempts per day at one mail server that would otherwise reach me.
Rgds
Damon
Re: (Score:1)
This contributes to meaningful debate how?
Are you saying that I *don't* get that many SPAM attempts or that you get many more, or that I should count your post as troll/SPAM and make is 10,001 for today?
Damon
Re: (Score:2)
$orkplace (a university department) has 250 staff and 4 years ago we were rejecting 200-500 delivery attempts PER MINUTE due to DNSBL hits (it was 10 times higher than that before I allowed the sennders to get to RCPT TO stage. so I believe this number is valid). Compare and contrast with total legitimate email volume of around 10,000 messages per day (in and out).
Email is now centralised and farmed out. I understand the central servers are seeing upwards of 3 million DNSBL rejects per day, with the Baysian
Time for waterboarding (Score:2)
Only question to ask: Who paid you?
Then recourse.
Happy time in prison (Score:2)
I don't get US sentencing... (Score:4, Insightful)
A privileged college students gets caught in the act (by two other students) raping an unconscious woman, and gets out in what, 3 months? Spammers are annoying obviously, but decades for that...? I just don't get it.
Re: (Score:2)
"Excellent" That a rapist gets 3 months and a spammer gets decades? I don't get the logic
Decades is a bit excessive (Score:2)
Don't get me wrong, I don't have much pity for the spammers but I don't see justification in grave prison sentences for them either.
If we really want to say we believe in criminal rehabilitation, this is a prime opportun
Proper sentence (Score:2)
http://ars.userfriendly.org/ca... [userfriendly.org]
sanford wallace (Score:2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Wallace
got 2 1/2 years for a decade of spamming has maybe over a billion dollars in fines/previous lawsuits over the years. a true human scum bag. but the guy from this artiels is scum also but a flea in a sea of spammers.
He owes me over $4M as a result of spamming me. (Score:2)
I obtained a $3.9M million judgment against him back in 2015. I identified over 5,000 e-mails transmitted by him using domain names obtained by fraud from NameCheap. That does not include e-mails using e-mails utilizing other domain name registrars.
I suspect that the number of spam identified by the FBI / DOJ is based upon the hosting providers that were identified in the indictment. I suspect that Persaud used IP space that was from registrars outside the USA to send spam that were not addressed by the cur
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It is a matter of finding the assets and not to stepping on the toes of the FBI.
All I can say about e360Insight is that it has been resolved to our mutual satisfaction.
Just 1 million? (Score:1)
Punishment is incorrect... (Score:2)
I would prefer that the punishment be an opportunity for any recipient of any of the mail messages sent be allowed to literally give the jackass an electric shock, each varying in intensity to keep him from becoming accustomed to the shock.
I was initially thinking each person be allowed a punch to jackass' face or gut, but damage may occur and that's unfair ;)
No, I'm not joking. I wish fucking asshats like this paid for their "gains" in equal pain and suffering for all combined, unwilling recipients.
Hey, s
Re: (Score:2)
I made the same comment above, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to how people are sentenced in the US.
By the way, the drunk woman was actually unconscious, and the guy was caught in the act by 2 other students --- how that equates with only 6 months (he got let out in 3 actually) is beyond me.
Re: (Score:2)
yep, like this piece of shit http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/02/... [cnn.com]
Re: (Score:2)