Massachusetts Shutters Alleged Spam Operation
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly has obtained an emergency court order shutting down dozens of Web sites allegedly operated by a sophisticated ring of Boston area spammers.
Attorneys from the AG’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division (CPAD) filed a lawsuit against Leo Kuvayev and six other individuals with ties to the state, accusing them of running an elaborate operation in violation of state and federal consumer protection laws.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Ralph D. Gants granted Reilly’s request for an emergency court order that effectively shuts down multiple Web sites linked to Kuvayev and the other defendants as well as two Internet companies.
The defendants named in the suit include Kuvayev, Vladislav Khokholkov, Anna Orlova, Pavel Tkachuk, Michelle Marco, Dennis Nartikoev, Pavel Yashin and two companies: 2K Services Ltd. and Ecash Pay Ltd. According to the complaint, all these individuals have worked in some capacity for either 2K or Ecash, which are unincorporated and list the same Massachusetts post office box address as their place of business.
Kuvayev’s scheme allegedly involves a complicated web of Internet sites and domain names selling a variety of illegal products including counterfeit drugs, pirated software, pornography, mortgage loans and phony designer watches, the complaint continues.
While the exact number of e-mails the defendants have sent out is unknown, they are allegedly likely responsible for disseminating hundreds of millions of unsolicited messages to consumers and businesses in Massachusetts and across the U.S.
Through the use of trap e-mail accounts, set up to determine the names and identity of spammers, Microsoft officials collected more than 45,000 spam messages believed to be from the Internet Spam Gang between June 12 and July 4, 2004. The investigation, coupled with information provided by the Microsoft Corp., allegedly found that Kuvayev and the defendants regularly and rapidly shifted domain names and Web sites to different Internet addresses.
The Internet Spam Gang’s operations have been tracked to Russia and other foreign countries with domain names registered in Monaco, Australia and France, and computer servers located in China, Korea, Brazil and Taiwan. Investigators used a variety of tools to track down the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and web hosting companies the spammers use to post and maintain many of their Web sites.
According to the complaint, Kuvayev and the other defendants were able to send millions of unsolicited e-mails by recruiting “affiliates” who also generate and transmit e-mails that link consumers to Kuvayev’s Web sites. Kuvayev is able to track Web site hits attributed to e-mails generated by these affiliates, and compensate the affiliates based on the e-mail and Web site traffic they generate.
