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April 4, 2005

DotComBoiz in big trouble

The State of Florida is suing two Tampa spammers for $24M.

According to a complaint filed by the Florida Attorney general, Scott J. Filary, 25, and Donald E. Townsend, 34, ran an illegal spamming operation called DotComBoiz, Inc.

The two men allegedly sent illegal spams for drugs, cigarettes, "e-books," and copyrighted movies. (You can see their page soliciting affiliates who will send spam for them here.)

All the usual illegal spammer high jinks are alleged: forged headers, misleading subject lines, spoofing, etc. Plus some pretty serious allegations of fraud regarding their pharmacy sites, which filled prescriptions without being properly licensed or following safe dispensing procedures.

It wasn't mentioned in the complaint, but the DotComBoiz are already facing legal heat over their site downloaditall.com. The Motion Picture Associate of America reportedly sued them for helping Internet users find and download copyrighted movies.

Microsoft apparently helped track down the spammers, who allegedly sent thousands of spams to Microsoft "spam trap" accounts.

Posted by brian at April 4, 2005 11:53 AM