January 17, 2005 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — A federal suit was launched on Thursday against a University of Texas student alleged to have led one of the world’s largest spam operations. Ryan Samuel Pitylak, 22, and alleged accomplice Mark Stephen Trotter of Encinitas, California are accused of sending thousands of junk mail messages through their two firms, PayPerAction and Leadplex.
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The defendants are said to have specialized in spam messages soliciting financial services. The scheme, sold for $28 a lead, was intended to con unsuspecting users into giving out personal information. Spamhaus’s Register of Known Spam Operations lists the defendants as the world’s fourth largest illegal spam operation.
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These spam emails often included false subject lines and sources, both violations of the CAN-SPAM Act. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott also accuses the defendants of violating state laws, including the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and the Texas Electronic Mail Solicitation Act. Working with Microsoft and others, Texan authorities organized “spam traps,” enabling investigators to trace the spam mail back to PayPerAction and Leadplex.
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The two men, both of whom deny the charges, face more than $2 million in fines if they are found guilty. Pitylak and Trotter’s attorney, Lin Hughes, says his clients sold their stake in Leadplex and PayPerAction in March 2004 to Eastmark Technology, a Hong Kong-based firm also named in the suit. She said her clients remained consultants to Leadplex and PayPerAction who are “legitimate Internet marketing companies in compliance with the federal law”, according to local press reports.
