Spammer Pleads Guilty To Fraud

from the that's-what-it-is dept

As the various attempts at anti-spam legislation get messier, it seems that the worst offenders are probably guilty of violating current fraud laws. That's what most current spam lawsuits have been about. A Kentucky spammer has now put in a guilty plea for a spam scam he ran, that apparently bilked over $100,000 out of gullible people out there. He sent out spam messages advertising an "investment club" where he promised impossible returns, and people fell for it. He's agreed to pay back the money he scammed, but might now be on the hook for a few million in fines and up to 20 years in jail. Of course, some might wonder what's the difference between this spammer and Merrill Lynch who just had a lawsuit thrown out for allegedly misleading investors. At least, in that case, the investors could easily check out the investments they were making, as all the necessary info was public. In the spam case, it was just one guy making up a lot of stuff.