Two arrested in AOL spam scheme, prosecutors say

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Two arrested in AOL spam scheme, prosecutors say


Thursday, June 24, 2004
By Erin McClam, The Associated Press





NEW YORK -- An America Online software engineer stole a list of 92 
million customer screen names that was eventually used to send massive 
amounts of e-mail spam, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Jason Smathers, 24, was arrested at his home in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., 
and was charged with conspiracy.

Smathers, working at AOL offices in Dulles, Va., stole the list and 
sold it to a Las Vegas man, Sean Dunaway, who used it to promote an 
Internet gambling operation and sold it to spammers, a criminal 
complaint said.

Dunaway, 21, also was arrested at his home and was charged with 
conspiracy.

Lawyers for the men were not immediately available to comment, but 
prosecutors in New York said both were to appear in federal courts near 
their homes Wednesday -- Smathers in Virginia and Dunaway in Las Vegas.

Each man could face up to five years in prison and at least $250,000 in 
fines if convicted.

Smathers was not authorized to have access to the screen name list, 
which is kept in Dulles, but used another employee's access code last 
year to steal it, prosecutors said.

Smathers compiled a list that also included customer ZIP codes and 
credit card types, prosecutors said.

AOL said it did not appear that Smathers had gained access to credit 
card numbers, which the company keeps in a separate facility.

"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 spokesman Nicholas Graham said.

Graham said the company fired Smathers on Wednesday as the charges were 
filed.

Prosecutors did not immediately say how much they allege Dunaway paid 
Smathers for the list, but they said Dunaway later paid him $100,000 
for an updated version of it.

Dunaway then offered the list to spammers, charging them $2,000 for 
lists containing names beginning with a single letter of the alphabet 
or $52,000 for the entire list, the complaint said.

At least one spammer used the list to send advertising for herbal 
penile enhancement pills, prosecutors said.

AOL, owned by Time Warner Inc., has about 32 million customers 
worldwide, Graham said. Many customers register several different 
screen names for family members or themselves.

David Kelley, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said the arrests were 
two of the first prosecutions under federal "can spam" legislation that 
took effect early this year.
<http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04176/336620.stm>

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