I'm so happy I could die!

[WolfeMacleod]

A few years ago, I was heavily into the Anti-Spam scene, and used up lots of time tracking down people who sent me major amount of spam. And believe me, I got a LOT of spam.

One, in particular, advertised spamming software and email address databanks. Being pushed by a guy in Oregon.
I got hundreds...thousands.
I filed them with spamcop, and he got wind of the email address I used to file with spamcop.
Then it became hundreds of thousands. He'd used my email address as the return address, or just plain slammed me withthem.
Well, he moved into Seattle a few years ago.
I was so tempted to find out where. And shoot him.

Well, he was arrested today.

http://www.spamhaus.org/news.lasso?article=611


Robert Soloway, one of the most persistent professional spammers listed since 2003 on Spamhaus's Register Of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) database, has been arrested in Seattle Washington in a joint operation conducted by the Washington State Attorney General's Office, the FBI, FTC, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) and the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).
Soloway has been a long term nuisance on the internet - both in terms of the spam he sent, and the people he duped to use his spam services which has, in many cases, got them into trouble.

For many years Robert Soloway committed hundreds of felony violations of U.S. computer crime laws on a daily basis. He was arrested after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges including mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, identity theft and money laundering. If convicted as charged, he could face up to 65 years in prison.

Spamhaus commends the Seattle FBI and US Attorney on ensuring that the indictment contains both spam-related and non-spam-related counts: and on preparing an indictment which shows so clearly the profile of the typical spammer's activities such as fraud, identity theft, and other online deceptions.

Spamhaus recognises that a successful prosecution requires careful preparation which inevitably takes longer than the victims of the crime would wish, but that preparation is essential, particularly since the CAN-SPAM Act does not yet have extensive case-law to support it.

As Soloway has long bragged of being judgement-proof and able to move quickly to avoid prosecution, Spamhaus is pleased to note that Soloway's arrest warrant recognizes that he is a serious flight risk.


http://thespamdiaries.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, May 30, 2007
KOMO TV coverage of Soloway

KOMO has coverage of Soloway's court hearing. Much information about his finances (he's been denied a court-appointed lawyer). He may be facing decades in the slammer, along with seizure of assets.

6:26 PM | permalink | 0 comments | links to this post |

Update on Soloway

Details can be found at Spamsuite. In a nutshell:

He's being held without bail until the detention hearing on Monday. The prosecutor wants him held until the trial. He's plead not guilty.

Trial will be 8/6/07.

5:08 PM | permalink | 0 comments | links to this post |

Robert Soloway arrested

This morning, at 7:30 Pacific time, Robert Soloway was arrested on charges related to spamming. He is currently in custody of the U.S. Marshal's office awaiting his initial court appearance today at the U.S. District Court in Seattle at 2:30.

According to the Seattle PI, Soloway's case centers on his Newport Internet Marketing company, which advertised spamming software and services. He is facing thirteen counts of money laundering, ten counts of mail fraud, five counts of wire fraud, five counts of aggravated identity theft, and two counts of email fraud.

Not too surprisingly, the software that Soloway sold didn't actually work. This is probably the source of at least some of the fraud charges. It would be interesting to see if any of Soloway's would-be spammer customers are named in the case.

This is by no means Soloway's first time in court — see Spam Kings for more. In the past, Soloway has bragged about being judgement-proof. Let's see if he's jail-proof.

Spamsuite.org has copies of the warrant and indictment on-line. Enjoy.

[M.D. Holloway]

Glad to hear that this POS got nailed. Just how much money do these guys actually make?

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
Glad to hear that this POS got nailed. Just how much money do these guys actually make?

They can make quite a lot of money, selling email addresses, or just plain spamming the poop out of people. Paid either per-spam, or per "launch" of a spam campaign, sending out millions of spams.

Spam accounts for over 70% of all email traffic.

I know that Soloway had a lot of assets before he moved up here. Huge house, noice cars. I've seen cars owned by other major spammers...we're talkign Lambos, P-cars, Ferrari...

A post by Robert on Benzworld...

================
robbiedawgdawg
BenzWorld Member
Vehicle : SLK320 / S500
Registered : 8/19/2002
Location : Medford, OR
Posts : 23
3/23/2003 1:31:27 AM

what does everyone say when someone compliments your slk?

hey guys,

just wondering, what do you young guys say to people that compliment
your car, when you know they are saying it, hoping for an explanation of
how someone so young can afford such a "toy"...

I'm 23 years old living in a blue collar small town in oregon, so
everytime someone compliments my car, i don't know if to say thank you,
or to explain that i'm a bastard and i dont' deserve the car? (even
though i did pay for it)

my responses are usually
1) hey, someone has to be the bastard...
2) thanks, it's all yours if you want to make the payments (if it's a
nice old lady that thinks i'm a drug dealer that paid cash for it or
something

whenever i end up saying thank you, i always end up feeling really bad
for some reason.. especially if they don't have that nice of a car... is
that just me?

anyone else got any ideas what to say?


- 2 Benzes Are Better Than 1!
================

[id10t]

Shoulda done a DDOS on his postal mail box like the slashdot geeks did to Alan Ralsky

[TerryBPP]

I knew a guy in Boca Raton that was in the spam business. Company was called Opt-In, which it was not so much. Made huge amounts of money (8 figures). One day he fell off the face of the earth. I believe the lawsuits and charges started stacking up and he fled to Europe.

[Rick Lee]

Has anyone here ever bought something they learned about through spam email? I can't undrestand how there's so much money in it. I've rarely opened such email and never even thought of giving them my money.

[Rot 911]

That was on the local news this morning. As an aside, when I saw the title to this thread I thought you had finally convinced your employee to move with you.

[kang]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
Has anyone here ever bought something they learned about through spam email? I can't undrestand how there's so much money in it. I've rarely opened such email and never even thought of giving them my money.

I’m with you on the thought of ever giving them any money. I saw this on the news and I’m glad they got this guy.

I remember hearing a statistic about those flyers you get for local businesses in the mail or on your door knob. You know the type: local pizza places offering two for one, those kinds of things. With the expense of mailing these out, or hiring someone to place them on door knobs, how could they make money?

Well, the statistic was that if they get a 1% or 2% response rate, they make money.

With as cheap as it is to send millions of spam e-mails, I’m sure they only need a .00001% response rate to make money. In fact, they could send 10 million e-mails, and if only one person responds, they probably make money.

I mean, really, how many people would order some “herbal” pills from a spam e-mail and think they will really enlarge a body part? You couldn’t pay me to take those pills…

[Rick Lee]

Oh, and I make it a policy of NEVER giving my business to any place that puts flyers under my door. I HATE that stuff.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally posted by TerryBPP
I knew a guy in Boca Raton that was in the spam business. Company was called Opt-In,.

Tell me that was Eddy Marin? I collected a million pieces of spam from that dirtbag over three years..
Or maybe Alan Rasky?

Most of the super-spammers in the USA live in Boca Raton. If human hunting were legal, I'd move...

Both of them are slime beyone belief and should be put out of our misery.


I always wanted to see a Law and Order episode in which a super-spammer was killed - perhaps from being force-fed massive amount os Spam...and the killer is found innocent.

[Rick Lee]

There is certainly a special place in hell for such scum.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Wow, didn't realize he was on benzworld. . . I post over there somewhat regularly (not as regularly as here though).

He's a piece of crap. Hope he never sees the light of day again. Telemarketers, direct mailers, spammers and the like should have their own new plane of hell, probably between 6 and 7 or thereabouts.

Wasn't there an Olympic athlete at the last summer games (IIRC he was from Australia) that was a professional spammer as well?

[Hugh R]

I just dropped an email address I've had for years because the spam got to be so bad it would lock up my machine. Thousands a day!

[tabs]

Originally posted by kang


I mean, really, how many people would order some “herbal” pills from a spam e-mail and think they will really enlarge a body part? You couldn’t pay me to take those pills…

SO THATS WHERE MOTHER GETS THOSE PILLS, and they don't do nothin at all.

[kang]

Originally posted by tabs
SO THATS WHERE MOTHER GETS THOSE PILLS, and they don't do nothin at all.

Some pills make you larger, and some make you small, and the ones that you get from spam...

[Dantilla]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
Oh, and I make it a policy of NEVER giving my business to any place that puts flyers under my door. I HATE that stuff.

I used to own a large apartment complex. I gathered up over 100 fliers, and took them to the office that sent them, stuffed the pile on the desk, and asked to please not litter on my property any more.

No more fliers from them!

[Rick Lee]

BTW, I now write "REFUSED" on all unsolicited mail that comes in envelopes and drop it off in the mailbox.

[WolfeMacleod]

The Press office for the US Attorney is coming over in about an hour to interveiw me as one of his spam victims.

I'll do all I can to become a witness for the prosecution. Printing out some of the stuff I still have from him now...

[kang]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
BTW, I now write "REFUSED" on all unsolicited mail that comes in envelopes and drop it off in the mailbox.

Curious, what does this accomplish?

[Rick Lee]

It gets sent back to them and maybe even gets me taken off their list. Either way, it proves to them that I did not open their mail and that their postage was wasted.