An expose of bad businesses and their unethical practices

A total of eleven persons have been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Washington on fraud charges involving an international spamming operation, or illegal commercial emailing. The persons indicted are residents of the United States, Russia, Canada, and Hong Kong. The ringleader of the scheme is thought to have been Alan Ralsky of Michigan, a major player in spam.

A quote from the captioned article reads: U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said, "Today's charges seek to knock out one of the largest illegal spamming and fraud operations in the country, an international scheme to make money by manipulating stock prices through illegal spam e-mail promotions. I commend the excellent investigative work of the FBI, Postal Inspection Service, and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division. I also wish to recognize the significant support and expertise provided by the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice."

The investigation behind these allegations lasted three years and involved the FBI, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Internal Revenue Service. The actual fraud generally involved stocks and a “pump and dump” scheme in the area of penny stocks. The scheme is believed to have made use of a “botnet”, or a large number of computers owned by innocents but taken over by the spammers. This is a landmark case in the spam arena and the details spell out truly Bad Business.