Re: Off topic--spam, why does it work?

[Norman Bauman nbauman@xxxxxxxx]

At 11:43 PM 9/2/03 -0400, Harry Binswanger wrote:

>I'm sure there must be an answer for the following puzzle, but why is it at
>all difficult to track down spammers? After all, they are advertising
>things that they very clearly tell you how to buy. (This applies to
>advertising spam, not to viruses or worms).

It isn't that difficult. I just saw a story from a midwestern newspaper
(linked as I recall from Slashdot) in which a reporter replied to half a
dozen spam ads, got his penis-elongating pills, etc. and tracked down some
of the spammers. The spammers have to get paid somehow, with a check,
credit card, etc., and certainly anyone with subpoena power, and sometimes
without, can track them down through the money trail. (If somebody were
selling marijuana or cocaine through the mail, you can be sure the DEA
would track them down.) There were a couple of spammers who were caught
recently by Earthlink and AOL because they used fake credit cards.

Norman

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