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| Anthony Greco is alleged to have sent over a million spam messages to users of MySpace.com |
An 18-year old man from New York has been arrested at Los Angeles International airport in connection with sending over a million spam messages.
Anthony Greco, of Cheektowaga, New York, was arrested when he arrived at the airport on Wednesday 16 February.
Assistant US Attorney Brian Hoffstadt claims that Greco created thousands of accounts on an internet service called MySpace.com and used them to send approximately 1.5 million spam messages to website members.
According to the authorities, Greco contacted MySpace.com after sending the spam and asked to be given exclusive rights to send commercial messages via the website. It is alleged that when this request was ignored Greco threatened to share details of his spamming techniques with other internet users.
Investigators claim that MySpace.com spent more than $5,000 protecting itself against further exploitation by spammers, and deleting spam from its servers.
"It's good to see the US take positive action against those they believe are responsible for spamming the internet," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "However, with more and more people recognising the fortunes which can be made through internet crime there are many people who are still to be caught."
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend businesses from the threats of both spam and viruses.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.