Ralsky, King of Spam, Faces Imprisonment

A Detroit (US) judge has sentenced Alan Ralsky "Spam King" to over 4 years of imprisonment on charges that he used e-mails to boost stock prices.

The spammer, who dispatched several million e-mails daily, also has to deposit $250,000 for executing the scam.

The prosecutors said that Ralsky had churned money within the range of $400,000 and $1 Million during the scheme, which resulted in nine other charges.

Ralsky, aged 63, reportedly admitted to charges during June 2009 of conniving to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and of breaching the federal CAN-SPAM Act that prohibits use of misleading captions in electronic mails and dispatch of business mails electronically posing as messages from friends.

Moreover, Ralsky's activity increased illicit spam volumes, which he distributed via dodging anti-spam filters and via cheating recipients into viewing ad attachments and following their instructions, prosecutors said.

A special agent from the Federal Reserve Bureau (FBI) said that Ralsky who called himself "Godfather of Spam," inundated people's mailboxes with unsolicited messages and tried to hijack computers with a botnet to use them in his spamming operation.

Besides, a charge indicted Ralsky that he along with Scott Bradley, his son-in-law, and some other individuals sent unwanted e-mails that artificially inflated penny stock values and sold off to make capital gains. The stocks incidentally belonged to some Chinese companies.

Moreover, along with Ralsky, 51-year-old How Wai John Hui of Canada and Hong Kong too faces a sentence of 51 months in jail on charges that he committed mail fraud and wire fraud, engaged in money laundering and breached the CAN-SPAM Act.

Hui, who was formerly the chief executive officer of China World Trade, would also be under supervision for 3 years after he has completed his jail sentence as well as has to forfeit $500,000 to federal authorities.

Meanwhile, officials said that the sentencing strongly indicated the consequences spammers could face if they tried to manipulate stock markets via financial-transaction embezzlements using unlawful e-mail advertisements. According to them, people, who spammed mails to inflate stock values for making illicit profits, would face prosecution and considerable prison time.

» SPAMfighter News - 12/3/2009