The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, accuses seven individuals of running an elaborate spam operation in violation of state and federal consumer protection laws. A request for an emergency order to close down web sites linked to the defendants and two internet companies was also filed – and granted.
"The numbers are staggering," said the Reilly. "Leo Kuvayev and the other members of his so-called 'Internet Spam Gang' are unleashing millions of unsolicited messages on consumers every day."
The defendants named in the suit are Leo Kuvayev, Vladislav Khokholkov, Anna Orlova, Pavel Tkachuk, Michelle Marco, Dennis Nartikoev, Pavel Yashin and two companies: 2K Services, Ltd, and Ecash Pay, Ltd.
All of these individuals, according to the complaint, have worked in some capacity for either 2K Services or Ecash Pay, which are unincorporated and list the same Massachusetts post office box address as their place of business.
According to the complaint, Kuvayev's scheme involves a collection of internet sites selling a variety of illegal products including counterfeit drugs, pirated software, pornography, mortgage loans and phoney designer watches.
While the exact number of e-mails sent out by the defendants is unknown, they are thought to be responsible for disseminating hundreds of millions of unsolicited messages to consumers and businesses in Massachusetts and across the US, said Reilly.
Trap e-mail accounts, set up by Microsoft for the express purpose of determining the names and identities of spammers, received more than 45,000 spam messages believed to be from the Internet Spam Gang between 12th June and 4th July, 2004.
The investigation, coupled with information provided by Microsoft, found that Kuvayev and the other defendants regularly and rapidly shift domain names and web sites to different internet addresses. The gang's operation has been tracked to Russia and other overseas countries, with domain names registered in Monaco, Australia and France, and computer servers located in China, Korea, Brazil and Taiwan.
Kuvayev and his associates, according to the complaint, are also able to send millions of unsolicited e-mails by recruiting "affiliates" to 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 the complaint alleges, compensate the affiliates based on the e-mail and web site traffic they generate.
In the suit, Kuvayev and his associates are accused of violating the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act and the federal CAN-SPAM Act.
The CAN-SPAM Act, also known as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, came into effect in January 2004.
Despite its name the CAN-SPAM Act fails to actually "can" spam. There is no ban on sending unsolicited commercial e-mail or text messages. Instead, it requires that spam sent to consumers includes a means of opting-out of the mailing list used by the sender.
The Act also provides for a national Do-Not-Spam list, bans the sending of fraudulent e-mails or unmarked sexually oriented e-mails, and provides for civil and criminal sanctions for those spammers who breach the rules. The penalties may amount to fines of $6 million and five years in prison in the most severe cases.
