News: Convicted spammer's appeal dismissed

The USA has Jeremy Jaynes, and the UK has Peter Francis-Macrae. What do these guys have in common? They are both spammers who have been found guilty of spamming and various other nefarious deeds. In the case of Francis-Macrae, he's just had his appeal dismissed (reported by the BBC and The Register).

Judging by his misdeeds, Francis-Macrae is a right nasty little brat, not only engaging in email harassment, but also in threatening actual physical harm to just about anyone who ever told him off about it. At his conviction, the judge described him as, "one of the most vindictive young men [he'd] ever seen".

Enjoy your porridge, Peter. All of it.

News: Stock spammers charged

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a "recidivist securities law violator" and his wife with "orchestrating a fraud scheme to inflate the price of WebSky, Inc., a San Francisco-based penny stock company, using spam email." According to the press release, "the couple pocketed more than $1 million in proceeds as a result of the scam." It should come as no shock to discover that they haven't been entirely honest about things, both in the spam they used to promote the stock, and in their dealings generally. Thanks to The Register for bringing this to my attention. It's always nice to hear of a scammer facing justice.

News: More 419ers to Face Justice

According to a report in The Register, four of twelve Nigerians arrested in Holland last night have been indicted by a New York grand jury. One of the four is still at large, but they all face extradition to the USA for trial (since that's where most of their victims are). The article also ranks the top three favourite haunts of 419 gangs as Holland, the UK, and Spain.

News: Another 419er Nicked

It is with great Schadenfreude that I bring to your attention the conviction of another Nigerian swindler, sentenced to a grand total of 376 years. ("Three hundred and seventy six years? I'll never do it!" "Well do as much as you can.") But take note, all ye who feel tempted by offers of Easy Millions: the victim in this case not only lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but was also jailed for "money laundering and bank wire offences". My advice is "don't get involved in crime", but if you are going to commit crimes nonetheless, then at least don't be a sucker about it.

News: Theives Arrested

I'm pleased to read that a dozen Internet theives have been arrested in Moscow and St Petersburg. These are the kind of people responsible for sending out the job scams which I regularly report here. In this case, they used emails and websites to subtly install keystroke monitoring software on vulnerable computers running Microsoft Windows. This software remained relatively dormant until the user accessed an online banking facility, at which point the keystroke logger started sending back username and password details to its evil master.

Remember, folks, never accept any unsolicited "job offers" you receive by email: they're a con, put about by people who will go to jail when caught. Likewise, be careful when accessing your bank account online. Are you sure your computer has not been compromised? There's only so much you can do if you lack the expertise, but be aware of the problem -- and use something other than Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer if you possibly can.

News: Spain nicks a load of 419ers

A while ago, I was complaining about Spain being such a ripe source of 419 fraud, particularly of the "you won a lottery" variety. Well, it appears that the local authorities have closed the net on them at last. According to an article in The Register entititled "Biggest 419 bust in history", a total of three hundred and ten people in Malaga, Spain, have been arrested in connection with this fraudulent activity. Here's hoping that justice is served.

News: Microsoft Wants to Catch Phishers

It seems that Microsoft is part software company, and part lawsuit company. At least they're channeling some of their lawsuits in the right direction with the announcement of 117 "John Doe" lawsuits against phishers. Sadly, they'll probably only catch the small-fry. Still, that's better than nothing.

News: New variety of phish in the works?

There are rumblings afoot in the UK that online retailers may become the next popular phishing vector. How so? Like this, apparently.

'The conmen will send emails offering a bottle or two of champagne as an inducement to check out the site and register to shop. But anyone falling for it will have handed their details to scam merchants.'

I'm not entirely persuaded that this brand of fraud would be very profitable, relative to the more traditional vector of compromising online banking details. And we already have an established industry of eBay fraudsters. Still, it's something to watch out for.

This item was brought to my attention via The Register.