The No. 8 worst spammer on the planet is now facing decades behind bars after being arrested for wire fraud.<\/p>\n
Michael Persaud, who is accused of sending more than a million spam emails and selling millions of email addresses to use for spamming, may face up to 20 years in prison for each of his 10 federal wire fraud charges.\u00a0 Persaud used multiple internet addresses and domains \u2013 a technique known as ‘snowshoe spamming’ \u2013 to transmit spam emails over at least nine networks, according to cyber-security expert\u00a0Brian Krebs<\/a>, who profiled Persaud last year.\u00a0 The 36-year-old was arrested last year after the networks he was using discovered his alleged scheme.\u00a0 He reportedly used pseudonyms such as ‘Michael Pearson’ and ‘Jeff Martinez’ to continue using the systems and earn commission for sales made by his spam, according to the\u00a0indictment<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2001, Persaud\u00a0and an accomplice pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for reportedly using a California company’s system to blast out thousands of spam emails.\u00a0 He ended up paying nearly $10,000 in restitution, according to ABC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n Persaud was believed to be able to send out a million messages in less than 15 minutes.<\/p>\n Three years earlier, he was sued by AOL for a series of ‘indiscriminate mass mailings and deceptive practices’ that ‘repeatedly bombarded AOL and its members with millions of deceptive emails.<\/p>\n A federal judge ordered Persaud to pay $490,000 in restitution and more than $54,000 in damages.\u00a0 When Persaud appeared in court this week, he pleaded not guilty of the charges.<\/p>\n He has been dubbed the eighth worst spammer in the world for his online activities by anti-spam organization,\u00a0Spamhaus<\/a>.<\/p>\n The alleged spammer has insisted that his ’email marketing business’ is legitimate and conforms to anti-spam laws, according to Krebs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Source\u00a0 dailymail.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"