Man 'Canned' for SPAM...

I found this article today from the NY Times about the first person to be convicted under the US Can-Spam Act of 2003 (on which much of our, soon to be passed, Singapore Spam Control Bill is based – more on that when it eventually receives Presidential assent).

Apparently, this California man operated a phishing scheme where he managed to send out thousands of emails that were set up to look like they were from AOL’s billing department (So the next time you receive an email, even from a company you know and patronise, be careful! I noticed that I've received email "bills" to my yahoo! email account apparently from ebay - although my ebay account is registered with my hotmail account). These were sent to AOL users prompting them to reply with personal and credit card information or risk losing service. He then used the information to make unauthorized purchases.

The man, Jeffrey B. Goodin, was found guilty of 10 other counts, including wire fraud, aiding and abetting the unauthorised use of an access device (a credit card in this case), possession of more than 15 unauthorized access devices, misuse of the AOL trademark, attempted witness harassment, and failure to appear in court.

Goodin is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Christina A. Snyder on June 11. He faces a maximum sentence of 101 years in federal prison.

I’ve included the NY Times article below for your reading pleasure. This is definitely a story that I would like to keep up with.

Note that Singapore already has a number of legislative instruments in place which covers these various crimes (e.g. among others, the Singapore Computer Misuse Act).

============================

Man Convicted Under Antispam Law
NY Times, Published: January 17, 2007http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D07E3DE1130F934A25752C0A9619C8B63

A California man who defrauded users of AOL by sending e-mail messages requesting credit data became the first defendant found guilty by a jury under a 2003 federal law barring Internet ''spam.''

The defendant, Jeffrey B. Goodin, 45, of Azusa, Calif., was convicted under the 2003 Can-Spam Act, the United States attorney's office said yesterday in a statement. The statute prohibits sending unsolicited e-mail messages with falsified header, or return address, information.

Prosecutors said that Mr. Goodin operated a so-called phishing scheme that duped AOL subscribers into providing personal and credit information in the belief they were dealing with the company's billing department. He used the credit card information to make unauthorized purchases.

Mr. Goodin is to be sentenced June 11 in Los Angeles.