Spammer ‘Alan Ralsky’ & His Gang Pleaded Guilty of Running Stock Campaign

Alan Ralsky, 63 years old and is known as the international spam king, admitted his involvement in sending millions of fake e-mails in a stock-fraud scheme before the US District Court in Detroit. He was found guilty of violating federal anti-spam laws, as reported by freep on June 22, 2009.

According to the details presented in the court, Ralsky and his gang were indulged in a number of conspiracies related to the manipulation of stocks during 2004 and 2005. The group sent massive amount of bogus and misleading spam messages that boosted the trading prices and volume of thinly traded stocks. Consequently, the conspirators harnessed good profit by trading in their shares. The DOJ revealed that the hyped share included some low-priced pink sheet stock of US companies bought by individuals in China and Hong Kong, as reported by PCWorld on June 22, 2009.

The DOJ also revealed that the conspirators not only used fake and misleading information in their spam messages, but also developed and forwarded e-mails by using software that made their detection almost impossible. Moreover, the conspirators implemented illegal methods to bypass spam blocks and to deceive users into viewing messages. They changed the headers, and used proxy systems to send spam and register fake domain names.

It is learnt that Scott Bradley son-in-law of Ralsky also pleaded guilty before the court. Another member of the group John Bown, a 45 year-old Fresno (California) resident, admitted of developing a botnet that helped in relay of spam. Besides, Bown was charged of committing other frauds such as mail fraud, wire fraud, the violation of CAN-SPAM Act and conspiracy to commit computer fraud. Bown will face 63 months imprisonment and a fine of $75,000. Fresno-based 46 year old 'William Neil' Culver City- based 36 years old 'James Fite' also pleaded guilty in this case. All the five accused will be awarded sentence on October 29, 2009.

Terrence Berg, US Attorney, said that Alan Ralsky assumed the status of world's most notorious spammer at one time, as reported by freep on June 22, 2009.

Anti-spam advocates have claimed that Alan Ralsky is the world's most prolific junk e-mailers but he denied the accusation saying that he is an authorized business operator. However, once admitted of sending over 70 Million messages in a single day.

Related article: Spammers Continue their Campaigns Successfully

» SPAMfighter News - 6/29/2009