Brothers indicted in major spam bust
Monday, May 4, 2009
A nationwide crackdown on spam resulted in the indictment of two Missouri brothers last week accused of harvesting millions of email addresses in violation of federal anti-spam laws.
Matt J. Whitworth, acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that Amir Ahmad Shah and his brother, Osmaan Ahmad Shah were arrested last week for their alleged roles in the spam network.
Whitworth said the brothers targeted students at more than 2,000 colleges and universities in a scheme that sold more than $4 million worth of products.
The Shahs initially set up hosting in China, which provided them anonymity and shielded them from complaints from the recipients of their spam, but subsequently moved their email hosting to various companies to hide their tracks.
As part of the conspiracy, the indictment says, the Shahs used false and misleading information in the spam emails to imply an association with the university or college that the student receiving the spam attended.
Liu Guang Ming, a citizen of China, and Paul Zucker, 55, of Wayne, New Jersey, were also charged in the spam ring.
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