Letter of Apology » Internet Fraud

Escaped Spammer Eddie Davidson Kills Family, Self

Dave Westheimer — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:00:34 +0000

“Spam King” Eddie Davidson, who escaped from a minimum security federal prison in Florence, Colorado on Sunday (earlier), shot and killed his wife and three-year-old daughter on Thursday morning and then killed himself. Their bodies were found at their former home in Bennett, east of Denver, in and beside the same vehicle his wife was driving Sunday night when he jumped in and forced her to drive off. The current homeowners were at work. His 14-year-old daughter escaped after being grazed in the neck and his seven-month-old son was found unharmed in the back seat.

USA Troy Eid said “What a nightmare, and such a coward. Davidson imposed the death penalty on family members for his own crime.” Davidson was sentenced to 21 months in prison on April 28 and began serving his sentence in late May (Rocky Mountain News, Denver Post).

Too Many Spam Kings: One Escapes, Another Sentenced

Dave Westheimer — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:34:10 +0000

The Rocky Mountain News reported Wednesday that “Spam King” Eddie Davidson escaped from a minimum security prison in Colorado on Sunday. Davidson was sentenced in late April to 21 months in prison (earlier).

In Seattle on Tuesday, US District Judge Marsha Pechman sentenced “Spam King” Robert Soloway to 47 months in prison for violating the CAN-SPAM act. Soloway pleaded guilty in March to email fraud, mail fraud and tax evasion (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, DOJ).

And let’s not forget Adam Vitale, who was sentenced to 30 months in prison last week for spamming (earlier). Investigators and prosecutors crowned him the “Spam King” too.

Somebody stop the coronations, please! Not every spammer can be the Spam King. I suggest using Spam Dauphin, Spam Crown Prince or Spam Duke of Earl.

Fired Philly Anchor Charged With Hacking Into, Leaking Co-Anchor’s Email

Dave Westheimer — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:56:51 +0000

Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia on Monday announced the filing of a one count information charging former KYW-TV news anchor Larry Mendte with intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization. Mendte, who was fired last month after the FBI raided his house, is accused of hacking into former co-anchor Alycia Lane’s email accounts for over 2 years, including 537 times between January 1 and May 26, 2008, and leaking her personal information to a Philadelphia Daily News gossip columnist. He apparently accessed the account by installing a keystroke logger, although that is not specified in the information. The emails included attorney-client communications relating to criminal and civil litigation involving Lane. A hearing has been set for August 22, at which Mendte is expected to plead guilty. He faces a statutory maximum of five years in prison (Philadelphia Inquirer, DOJ Press Release, Information).

Professional Spammer Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison

Dave Westheimer — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:26:38 +0000

Adam Vitale of Brooklyn was sentenced to 30 months in prison last Tuesday by US District Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan for his role in a scheme that sent 1.2 million spam emails to AOL subscribers in one six-day period in 2005. Vitale was listed as a professional spammer on an industry watchlist operated by Spamhaus. He was caught because the spamming was done on behalf of a confidential informant. Vitale and co-defendant Todd Moeller, who was sentenced last November to 27 months in prison, used multiple servers to bypass AOL’s spam filters, indicating that they may have been operating a botnet. Ironically, the spam was for a computer security product. Vitale pleaded guilty in June 2007 to one count of conspiracy and two counts related to the illegal spamming (Reuters via Yahoo, DOJ).

One Sentencing, One Guilty Plea In Anti-Botnet Operation

Dave Westheimer — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 06:42:13 +0000

Recent results in the DOJ and FBI’s “Operation Bot Roast”:

Robert Matthew Bentley of Panama City, Florida, on June 11 was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay $65,000 in restitution by US District Judge Richard Smoak in Pensacola. Bentley pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy and computer fraud counts; he admitted overloading Newell Rubbermaid’s computer network by using his botnet to install ad-serving software on over 100 computers; he was paid to do it by a now-defunct Dutch adware company. Others companies were targeted and unnamed co-conspirators are under investigation (Techworld, DOJ).

Gregory King of Fairfield, California on June 10 pleaded guilty to two counts of transmitting code to cause damage to a protected computer before US District Judge Lawrence Karlton in Sacramento. King admitted using a 7,000-computer botnet he controlled to launch distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against Killanet and CastleCops. The latter is a well-respected online security community which specializes in analyzing, exposing and fighting malware, phishing and other computer security concerns. King agreed to serve two years in prison, although the court is not bound by the recommendation; sentencing is scheduled for September 3 (Wired, DOJ).

Spammer Sentenced To 21 Months In Prison

Dave Westheimer — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:47:50 +0000

Convicted spammer Eddie Davidson of Louisville, Colorado was sentenced to 21 months in prison on Monday by US District Judge Marcia Krieger in Denver. He was also ordered to pay $714,000 to the IRS. Davidson was indicted in May 2007 in connection with a 5 year long operation during which he allegedly sent hundreds of thousands of spam emails on behalf of 19 clients who paid him at least $3.5 million. The spam, which promoted penny stocks and merchandise such as cheap watches and perfume, was sent with fake email headers to disguise the source. He pleaded guilty in December to charges of tax evasion and falsifying email headers in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act (PC World, DOJ).

Three Plead Guilty In Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud

Dave Westheimer — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:20:21 +0000

Sometimes, spamming scammers are brought to justice: Two Nigerian nationals and a Senegalese national, each with a variety of aliases, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and multiple charges of wire fraud last Wednesday before US Magistrate Judge Roland Reyes Jr. in Brooklyn. Each wire and mail fraud count carries a maximum 20 year sentence; the conspiracy charges each carry a 5 year maximum sentence. The case was originally investigated by Dutch authorities; the three were arrested in Amsterdam in 2006 and extradited. A fourth defendant fled to Nigeria and is being held pending extradition.

The charges arose from an advance fee fraud scheme (419 scam) operated by the defendants: the all-too-familiar spam emails in which the writer claims to control millions of dollars overseas and the recipient is offered a commission for his help in gaining control of the funds; one of the scenarios in this case involved a throat cancer sufferer who wished to distribute $55 million to charity. The ~~suckers~~ victims in these schemes lost approximately $1.2 million in wire transfer payments to the defendants for advance fees. The DOJ Press release is here.