Two arrested in spam scheme
2004-06-24 08:28
New York - An America Online employee stole a list of 92 million customer screen names that was eventually used to send massive amounts of e-mail spam, federal prosecutors said.
Jason Smathers, 24, was fired from his job as a software engineer for the internet service provider after being arrested at his home in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, company officials said. He was charged with conspiracy.
Smathers, who worked at AOL's offices in Dulles, Virginia, sold the list to Sean Dunaway, 21, of Las Vegas, according to a criminal complaint. Dunaway, also charged with conspiracy, then used it to promote an internet gambling operation and sold it to spammers, the complaint alleges.
Dunaway made an initial appearance on Wednesday in federal court in Las Vegas. He was released and given 30 days to appear before a US magistrate judge in New York. Smathers was to appear in court in Virginia.
David Kelley, US attorney for Manhattan, said the arrests were under federal legislation against spamming that took effect early this year. AOL is a division of New York-based Time Warner Inc.
Each man could face up to five years in prison and at least $250 000 in fines if convicted.
Lawyers for the men were not immediately available for comment.
Prosecutors allege Smathers was not authorised to have access to the screen name list and used another employee's access code last year to steal it. They said he compiled a list that included customer postal codes and credit card types, although it did not appear he gained access to credit card numbers.
"We deeply regret what has taken place and are thoroughly reviewing and strengthening our internal procedures as a result of this investigation and arrest," AOL spokesperson Nicholas Graham said.
Prosecutors did not immediately say how much they believe Dunaway paid Smathers for the list but said Dunaway later paid him $100 000 for an updated version.
Dunaway offered the list to spammers, charging them $2 000 for lists with names beginning with a single letter, or $527 00 for the entire list, the complaint said.
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- AP