You've Got Jail: 27 Months For AOL Spam Scam
Todd Moeller of New Jersey was sentenced to 27 months for his part in sending 'spam' e-mails to more then 1.2 million AOL subscribers. Sadly it seems that the scheme actually made Moeller, and his partner Adam Vitale quite a fortune: almost $40,000 a month!
Their spamming was done via traditional monkeying with open mail servers and header tinkering. Low-tech, but perhaps it doesn't take a lot to fool AOL customers or AOL's mail servers.
“Moeller and Adam Vitale of New York pleaded guilty earlier this year to breaking anti-spam laws and defeating AOL's filter system by using a variety of computer servers and changing the header information on e-mails to ensure they could not be traced, court papers said.”
While the defendants were obviously wrong about the e-mails being untraceable, one has to wonder if these two guys are going to become hot recruitment prospects for advertisers who engage in viral marketing.
Their spamming was done via traditional monkeying with open mail servers and header tinkering. Low-tech, but perhaps it doesn't take a lot to fool AOL customers or AOL's mail servers.
“Moeller and Adam Vitale of New York pleaded guilty earlier this year to breaking anti-spam laws and defeating AOL's filter system by using a variety of computer servers and changing the header information on e-mails to ensure they could not be traced, court papers said.”
While the defendants were obviously wrong about the e-mails being untraceable, one has to wonder if these two guys are going to become hot recruitment prospects for advertisers who engage in viral marketing.
