Five Convicted in Connection with Operation ‘Phish Phry’

Five people were convicted last week of federal charges for their roles in an international phishing scam that used spam emails and bogus websites to collect personal information that was used to defraud U.S. banks, according to FBI’s Los Angeles field office.

The five found guilty were among 53 defendants charged in the fall of 2009 as part of Operation “Phish Phry,” a multinational investigation…

Think Tank to Publish Report on China-US Effort to Fight Spam

A New York-based think tank is planning next month to release a report on cybersecurity and how to build a partnership between the United States and China to combat spam.

“Fighting Spam to Build Trust” will be the first product of talks between Chinese and United States experts convened by the EastWest Institute. The…

NY Broker Accused of ‘Pump-and-Dump’ Scheme via Spam

A New York stock broker has been charged for his alleged role in a fraud scheme to illegally “pump-and-dump” thinly traded Chinese and Israeli stocks by sending spam promoting stocks to artificially inflate prices, according to the FBI.

Gregg M. Berger is accused of being part of a group that allegedly carried out a sophisticated stock fraud scheme from January 2005 through December 2007. Berger allegedly…

US — Worst. Spammer. Ever.

A new report by Sophos has revealed the top 12 spam-producing countries, and once again, the United States was tagged with the dubious distinction of placing first.

“Many members of the public still don’t understand the vital role that they can play in fighting spam – preventing their home PC from becoming infected,”…

FBI Hunts Down Alleged Super Spammer

A Russian man believed by the FBI to be responsible for one-third of the world’s spam is scheduled to be arraigned in a Milwaukee, Wis., court today.

According to CNN, researchers began tracking down the “Mega-D” spam automated botnet as a prime source of selling counterfeit goods. Allegedly managed by Oleg Nikolaenko, the botnet accounted for 32 percent of all spam, the court documents said,…

Spying Hacker Controlled Victims’ Webcams from Mom’s Living Room

A Scottish hacker accessed highly personal data and controlled victims’ webcams as part of an email scam conducted from his mother’s living room, according to Scottish news outlet STV.

Matthew Anderson, aka aobuluz and warpigs, was a member of an international hacker group m00p, abusing his skills as a computer security expert to target businesses and individuals with spam containing hidden viruses, STV reported. He was able…

UK Spam Out of Control

Ten percent of all websites in the United Kingdom send malicious and dangerous spam email, a statistics that has more than doubled since last October, according to a spam research company.

U.K.-based Spam Ratings said 20 percent of websites automatically opt in web users when it comes to sharing their details with third parties, despite the fact it violates email marketing best practice.

Forty percent of spam emails containing…

Leader of Hacking Crew m00p Pleads Guilty

A Scottish man has pleaded guilty to offenses originating from his involvement as the leader of an international cyber crime ring responsible for infecting computers worldwide with Trojans, according to Softpedia.

In 2006, U.K. authorities arrested Matthew Anderson, following an investigation into the hacker group called m00p. Prosecutors said Anderson, who used the aliases of “warpigs” and “aobuluz,” headed the group and handled the malware distribution via spam.

Anderson…

Relentless Facebook Spammer Fined $873 Million

A Canadian man who over a two-month period sent more than four million spam messages to Facebook profiles, promoting marijuana and sexual-enhancement drugs, has now been ordered by the Quebec court to pay $873 million in fines.

Sophos reports that during March and April 2008, Adam Guerbuez sent 4,366,386 spam to users of the popular social network. The fine was originally set in place by California court in 2008. Guerbuez…

Europe Crowned New King of Spam

Europe is now the top spam-producing country in the world, bypassing North and South Americas, and Asia-Pacific, according to the Trend Micro semi-annual 2010 threat report.

Spam continued to grow between January and June 2010, stalling briefly during April. Despite common perception, porn consists of only 4 percent of all spam. Commercial, scams-based and health/medical categories comprise 65 percent of the spam generated…