Spammers Get Jail Time
The fight against SPAM got a huge boost yesterday as a Virginia court sentenced Jeremy Janes, 30, to a nine year prision sentence for sending millions of junk e-mails to AOL customers. In addition Janes sister, 29 year old Jessica DeGroot , was fined $7,500 U.S. after being convicted of three counts of sending e-mails with fraudlulent and untraceable routing information.
The pair were involved in a scam called "The Fedex Refund Processor", which promised people ability to earn up to $75 U.S. per hour via their computer, as long as they paid a processing fee to the duo. In one month alone the pair recieved 10,000 credit card payments of $39.95. The scam was based out of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Prosecutors in the case compared the siblings to modern day snake oil salesmen, and charged the duo under the state's anti-spam law, which was passed in Virginia in 2003.
The legislation, thought to be thoughest in North America, prohibits the distribution of unsolicited or untraceable bulk e-mail. AOL is headquartered in Virginia.
"Spam is a nuisance to millions of Americans," said Virginia's Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore following the sentencing hearing. "But it is also a major problem for businesses large and small because the thousands of unwanted e-mails create havoc as they attempt to conduct business".
The pair were involved in a scam called "The Fedex Refund Processor", which promised people ability to earn up to $75 U.S. per hour via their computer, as long as they paid a processing fee to the duo. In one month alone the pair recieved 10,000 credit card payments of $39.95. The scam was based out of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Prosecutors in the case compared the siblings to modern day snake oil salesmen, and charged the duo under the state's anti-spam law, which was passed in Virginia in 2003.
The legislation, thought to be thoughest in North America, prohibits the distribution of unsolicited or untraceable bulk e-mail. AOL is headquartered in Virginia.
"Spam is a nuisance to millions of Americans," said Virginia's Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore following the sentencing hearing. "But it is also a major problem for businesses large and small because the thousands of unwanted e-mails create havoc as they attempt to conduct business".
posted by James Mason at 10:00 AM
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