Spammers beware: The FBI is on your tail.
Dan Larkin, supervisor of the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, told DMers here yesterday that the Slam Spam task force has already moved a few new investigations into the search-and-seizure stage, and some of the latest targets have begun to talk about others involved in spam and fraud.
“Pandora’s box is opening,” Larkin said. “There are some noteworthy subjects that will be part of new actions over the next couple of months.”
The FBI is actively looking to the direct marketing community for help in stopping spam, he said.
“The FBI’s metamorphosis over the last couple of years has involved recognizing that in order to go after most priority crime problems, we have to find a way to team up with industry,” noted Larkin, head of the bureau’s year old Slam Spam initiative. Yesterday, he spoke to a group of 30 chief international DM executives to ask for their help in fighting spam and other forms of cybercrime, such as phishing and identity theft.
“The industry has so much intelligence and many resources tuned into the front end of these problems,” Larkin said. “Way before we ever know about them, they’re showing up on the industry’s radar screen.”
So far Slam Spam has resulted in a number of national initiatives against Internet crime, most recently the Web Snare operation last August involving 177 cases and producing about 150 arrests, 12 spam-related prosecutions and others for related crimes such as fraud and database hacking.
Such packaging of cases into nationwide initiatives is necessary to give spam the prominence it needs to appeal to state and local prosecutors — most of whom are “more tuned in to the political and media landscape” than law enforcement, Larkin said.
Larkin said that spam is important as a “front-end” crime that opens the door for other abuses. An unsolicited invitation to click on a link can then provide the opportunity to steal a user’s cash, credit card numbers, or identity.
Network
