FBI Raids Spammer Outed by Krebs OnSecurity
Summary: The FBI raided the San Diego home of Michael A. Persaud on April 27, 2016, as part of a federal spam investigation that had been open since at least 2013, and on June 6, 2016 obtained a warrant to search his iCloud account for evidence of illegal spamming and wire fraud. A sealed affidavit obtained by KrebsOnSecurity shows Persaud told agents he sends a million emails in under 15 minutes from his residence, and that investigators found emails between him and at least four affiliate programs in his michaelp77x@gmail.com account; he has not been charged and maintains his business complies with the CAN-SPAM Act.
Why it matters: Persaud sits at #10 on Spamhaus's World's 10 Worst Spammers list and was sued by AOL in 1998 and criminally charged by the San Diego District Attorney in 2001, yet the FBI's investigation ran for at least three years before a raid produced no charges - a timeline that shows how long high-volume spam operations can persist while federal scrutiny builds.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
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