Subject:  EarthLink files lawsuit against 100 spammers in Alabama, Vancouver |
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Date Posted: 13:19:17 08/27/03 Wed
EarthLink files lawsuit against 100 spammers in Alabama, Vancouver
SAMIRA JAFARI
Associated Press
ATLANTA - EarthLink, the third-largest Internet service provider, filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against 100 e-mail spammers - mostly based in Alabama and Vancouver - who allegedly sent millions of unwanted commercial messages.
EarthLink claims the Alabama spammers used stolen credit cards, identity theft and banking fraud to fund Internet accounts and send out more than 250 million unsolicited commercial e-mails.
The spammers went undetected for about six months by creating an elaborate chain of bogus names, false addresses and nonexistent companies to disguise the identities of individual spammers, according to the lawsuit.
"Our investigation has been ongoing for a number of months and this is a very tech-savvy spam ring which has made this a particularly challenging investigation," said Karen Cashion, lead council for EarthLink's lawsuit.
The ring used several tricks to cover its tracks, including leasing several telephone lines in Birmingham and using those lines to connect to EarthLink automatically, even if the ISP kicked the bogus users off, said Cashion.
According to the lawsuit, the spammers also sent their e-mails to some of their own accounts to monitor EarthLink's efforts to block unwanted messages.
Cashion said the spam included advertisements for herbal Viagra, mortgage loans and fake company Web sites that took user addresses and financial information, and later disappeared from the Internet.
The investigation has yet to identify individual spammers - the Alabama defendants are listed as John Does 1-25 - but the company hopes to receive an injunction that would completely derail the group once the spammers are named, she said.
EarthLink will contact law enforcement once it has identified the spammers, said Carla Shaw, company spokeswoman.
EarthLink has estimated the total damages from the Alabama ring at roughly $5 million. Those costs were incurred from relaying the spam, investigating the ring and losing customers, Cashion said.
The lawsuit also accuses an additional 25 John Does in Vancouver for a scheme known as "phishing," where spammers pose as ISPs, like America Online, to attract personal and financial information from unsuspecting subscribers.
Cashion said the investigation into the Vancouver ring is in its early stages. Other defendants in the case remain unidentified and face similar allegation to the rings in Alabama and Vancouver.
EarthLink has been successful in suing other spammers.
In May, the company collected $16.4 million from a spammer in Buffalo, N.Y., and last year the company was awarded $25 million in damages in a lawsuit against Kahn C. Smith.
ON THE NET
http://www.+earthlink+.net
http://www.spamlaws.com
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