[IP] Two arrested in AOL spam scheme, prosecutors say
Two arrested in AOL spam scheme, prosecutors say
Thursday, June 24, 2004
By Erin McClam, The Associated Press
NEW YORK -- An America Online software engineer stole a list of 92
million customer screen names that was eventually used to send massive
amounts of e-mail spam, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Jason Smathers, 24, was arrested at his home in Harpers Ferry, W.Va.,
and was charged with conspiracy.
Smathers, working at AOL offices in Dulles, Va., stole the list and
sold it to a Las Vegas man, Sean Dunaway, who used it to promote an
Internet gambling operation and sold it to spammers, a criminal
complaint said.
Dunaway, 21, also was arrested at his home and was charged with
conspiracy.
Lawyers for the men were not immediately available to comment, but
prosecutors in New York said both were to appear in federal courts near
their homes Wednesday -- Smathers in Virginia and Dunaway in Las Vegas.
Each man could face up to five years in prison and at least $250,000 in
fines if convicted.
Smathers was not authorized to have access to the screen name list,
which is kept in Dulles, but used another employee's access code last
year to steal it, prosecutors said.
Smathers compiled a list that also included customer ZIP codes and
credit card types, prosecutors said.
AOL said it did not appear that Smathers had gained access to credit
card numbers, which the company keeps in a separate facility.
"We deeply regret what has taken place and are thoroughly reviewing and
strengthening our internal procedures as a result of this investigation
and arrest," AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said.
Graham said the company fired Smathers on Wednesday as the charges were
filed.
Prosecutors did not immediately say how much they allege Dunaway paid
Smathers for the list, but they said Dunaway later paid him $100,000
for an updated version of it.
Dunaway then offered the list to spammers, charging them $2,000 for
lists containing names beginning with a single letter of the alphabet
or $52,000 for the entire list, the complaint said.
At least one spammer used the list to send advertising for herbal
penile enhancement pills, prosecutors said.
AOL, owned by Time Warner Inc., has about 32 million customers
worldwide, Graham said. Many customers register several different
screen names for family members or themselves.
David Kelley, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said the arrests were
two of the first prosecutions under federal "can spam" legislation that
took effect early this year.
<http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04176/336620.stm>
-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as roessler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To manage your subscription, go to
http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip
Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/