List of spammers

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This is a list of individuals and organizations noteworthy for engaging in bulk electronic spamming, either on their own behalf or on behalf of others. It is not a list of all spammers{{px2}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}only those whose actions have attracted substantial independent attention.

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• Nathan Blecharczyk, one of the founders of Airbnb, who paid his way through Harvard by providing spammers hosting services.{{Cite web|last=Tate|first=Ryan|title=The Seedy, Spammy Past of Airbnb's Co-Founder|url=http://gawker.com/5853754/the-seedy-spammy-past-of-airbnbs-co-founder|access-date=2020-07-23|website=Gawker|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=2003-05-12|title=The Spamhaus Project - Data-Miners.net - Nathan Blecharczyk|url=http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/spammers.lasso?-database=spammers.db&-layout=detail&-response=roksodetail.lasso&recno=1145&-clientusername=guest&-clientpassword=guest&-search|access-date=2020-07-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030512215305/http://www.spamhaus.org/rokso/spammers.lasso?-database=spammers.db&-layout=detail&-response=roksodetail.lasso&recno=1145&-clientusername=guest&-clientpassword=guest&-search|archive-date=2003-05-12}}
• Shane Atkinson, who was named in an interview by The New Zealand Herald as the man behind an operation sending out 100 million emails per day in 2003, who claimed (and appeared) to honor unsubscribe requests, and who claimed to be giving up spamming shortly after the interview. His brother Lance was ordered to pay $2 million to U.S. authorities.{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=3518097|title=Spammers hit below men's belts|publisher=The New Zealand Herald|date=August 15, 2003|access-date=November 7, 2009}}
• Serdar Argic (a.k.a. Zumabot), who disrupted Usenet by posting up to 100 messages per day on different newsgroups in an attempt to deny the Armenian genocide.
• Canter & Siegel, a husband and wife who famously posted one of the first commercial Usenet spam advertisements to thousands of newsgroups and were defiant in the face of thousands of email flames, having supposedly generated over $100,000 in revenue from the ad.{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981132,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070107130913/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,981132,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 7, 2007|title=Battle for the Soul of the Internet|publisher=Time|date=March 18, 2005|access-date=November 7, 2009}}
• Richard Colbert, a retired spammer (as of 2003) who scoured AOL for business contacts, offering spam as his service, claims to have honored "unsubscribe" requests, and gave an interview to The New York Times.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E0D71E3AF93BA1575AC0A9659C8B63|title=Confessions of a Spam King|last=Hitt|first=Jack|work=The New York Times|date=September 28, 2003|access-date=November 7, 2009}}
• David D'Amato, a former assistant high school principal who was fined $5,000 and spent a year in prison after being convicted in 2001 for online crimes including email bombs targeted at individuals and institutions.{{cite web |last=Rizza |first=Joe |url=http://www.antonnews.com/threevillagetimes/2001/04/13/news/ |title=Who Was Educating Your Children? |publisher=Antonnews.com |access-date=2013-07-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808072852/http://www.antonnews.com/threevillagetimes/2001/04/13/news/ |archive-date=2013-08-08 }}{{cite book |title= Spam Kings: The Real Story behind the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing Porn, Pills, and %*@)# Enlargements |author= Brian McWilliams |publisher= O'Reilly |year= 2004 |isbn= 978-0-596-00732-4 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/spamkingsrealsto00mcwi }}
• Eddie Davidson, a convicted spammer who died along with his wife and daughter in 2008 in a murder-suicide.{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/technology/escaped-spam-king-murders-family/2008/07/28/1217097105110.html|title=Escaped 'Spam King' murders family|agency=Associated Press|date=July 28, 2008|access-date=November 7, 2009|location=Melbourne}}
• Peter Francis-Macrae, convicted of fraudulent trading, blackmail, and violent threats{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cambridgeshire/4442772.stm|title=Spammer jailed for £1.6m net scam|publisher=BBC News|date=16 November 2005|access-date=November 7, 2009}} after sending thousands of businesses{{cite web|url=http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/regulation/2005/11/17/uk-spammer-jailed-over-16m-scam-39237311/|title=UK spammer jailed over £1.6m scam|last=Wearden|first=Graeme|publisher=ZDNet UK|date= 17 November 2005|access-date=3 May 2010}} solicitations to purchase .eu internet domains he did not own.
• Davis Wolfgang Hawke, who lost a $12.8 million judgment against AOL in 2004{{cite news|url=http://legal.web.aol.com/decisions/dljunk/hawke.html |title=AOL v. Davis Wolfgang Hawke, et al. |publisher=AOL |year=2004 |access-date=August 18, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717043236/http://legal.web.aol.com/decisions/dljunk/hawke.html |archive-date=July 17, 2007 }} after using spam to promote a neo-Nazi agenda.{{cite news | url=http://www.adl.org/backgrounders/anp.asp | title=American Nationalist Party | publisher=Anti-Defamation League | year=2007 | access-date=2007-08-18 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070909112049/http://www.adl.org/backgrounders/anp.asp | archive-date=2007-09-09 }}
• Jumpstart Technologies, an incubator of prominent social network Hi5 and the first entity to pay a settlement as great as $900,000 for violating the CAN-SPAM act, later spun off into social networking site Tagged, which subsequently paid upwards of $1.5 million in various fines and legal settlements involving government entities as well as private individuals, and was referred to by Time magazine as "the world's most annoying website."{{cite web |url=http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/226600-tagged.com-gets-slapped-by-san-francisco-da |title=Tagged.com gets slapped by San Francisco DA |publisher=LegalNewsline |access-date=2010-04-25 |date=April 12, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415034142/http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/226600-tagged.com-gets-slapped-by-san-francisco-da |archive-date=April 15, 2010 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=121963 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110205141430/http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=121963 |archive-date=2011-02-05 |title=Social Net Tagged Agrees To Destroy Allegedly Ill-Begotten Email Addresses |date=February 8, 2010 |first=Wendy |last=Davis |publisher=MediaPost }}
• Vardan Kushnir, a famous Russian spammer who was murdered in 2005 for reasons possibly unrelated to his spamming activities{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.08/spamking.html|title=The Sleazy Life and Nasty Death of Russia's Spam King|publisher=Wired|date=March 2, 2006|first=Mark|last=Looy|access-date=July 19, 2009}}
• Peter Levashov, alleged Russian operator of the Kelihos botnet. Extradited by Spain and facing trial, currently in a Connecticut jail.{{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/alleged-operator-kelihos-botnet-extradited-spain|title=Alleged Operator of Kelihos Botnet Extradited From Spain|website=www.justice.gov|date=2 February 2018 |language=en|access-date=2018-02-03}}
• Kevin Lipsitz, aka “Krazy Kevin”, a prolific spammer convicted in New York on fraud charges in 1997, stemming from his spamming of Usenet newsgroups with advertisements using AOL.com as a "Reply-to:" address.Jonathan A. Zdziarski (2005) Ending Spam: Bayesian Content Filtering and the Art of Statistical Language Classification. No Starch Press, San Francisco, CA, USA. {{ISBN|1-59327-052-6}} (p. 15) He resumed spamming in 1999.[http://www.rahul.net/falk/Lip/] "Overview of spam from Lipsitz" Rahul.net
• Oleg Nikolaenko, arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in November 2010 as the "King of Spam."{{cite news|last=Simon|first=Mallory|url=http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/03/man-allegedly-responsible-for-a-third-of-your-spam-e-mail-to-be-arraigned/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204154647/http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/03/man-allegedly-responsible-for-a-third-of-your-spam-e-mail-to-be-arraigned/|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 4, 2010|title=Man allegedly responsible for a third of your spam e-mail to be arraigned|publisher=CNN|date=December 3, 2010|access-date=December 3, 2010}}
• Ryan Pitylak, known as the “Texas Spam King”, admitted to sending 25 million emails every day at the height of his spamming operation in 2004.{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna13138246|title=Spam king settles with Texas, Microsoft|publisher=NBC News|date=June 4, 2006|access-date=June 4, 2006}}
• Alan Ralsky, Scott Bradley, John Bown, William Neil, and James Fite, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to use spam emails to pump and dump thinly traded stocks, in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act. The group faced years of prison time and millions of dollars in penalties under the terms of their plea agreements.{{cite news|url=http://detroit.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/de062209.htm |title=Detroit Spammer and Four Co-Conspirators Plead Guilty to Multi-Million Dollar E-Mail Stock Fraud Scheme |publisher=United States Department of Justice |date=June 22, 2009 |access-date=June 25, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626003411/http://detroit.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/de062209.htm |archive-date=June 26, 2009 }}
• Dave Rhodes, the (possibly apocryphal) name attached to a famous chain letter titled "MAKE MONEY FAST" that originated in the late 1980s.{{cite web|url=https://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Folklore/Chain_letters/?f=chain_letter.article|title=Dave Rhodes|access-date=November 7, 2009}}
• Scott Richter,{{cite web|url=http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2005/aug05/08-09BradSmithLetter.mspx|title=Open Letter from Brad Smith, Microsoft General Counsel|website=Microsoft |date=August 9, 2005|access-date=November 25, 2009}} who paid $7 million to Microsoft in 2006 in a settlement arising out of a lawsuit alleging illegal spam activities.{{cite web|url=http://www.toptechnews.com/news/MySpace-Takes-On-the--Spam-King-/story.xhtml?story_id=11300ADUSD8F |title=World Wide Web – MySpace Takes On the 'Spam King' |publisher=Toptechnews.com |access-date=2013-07-07}}
• Russian Business Network{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202461.html|title=Shadowy Russian Firm Seen as Conduit for Cybercrime|last=Krebs|first=Brian|newspaper=Washington Post|date=October 13, 2009|access-date=November 7, 2009}}
• Christopher "Rizler" Smith,{{cite news|url=http://www.sptimes.com/2005/09/12/Technology/Feds__Spamming_made_m.shtml|title=Feds: Spamming made millions for dropout|agency=Associated Press|date=September 12, 2005|access-date=July 18, 2009}} who was forced to pay $5.5 million to America Online for spam activity in 2003 and is currently serving a 30-year prison sentence for charges not related to spam.{{cite web|url=http://www.spamdailynews.com/publish/Notorious_spammer_Christopher_Rizler_Smith_smacked_down_again.asp|title=Notorious spammer Christopher 'Rizler' Smith smacked down, again|date=January 26, 2006|access-date=May 4, 2010}}
• Jody Michael Smith, a spammer and director of the world's largest online replica watch network.{{cite web|url=http://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cases/2009/11/091130atkinsstip.pdf |title=Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Final Judgment as to Defendant Jody Michael Smith|publisher=Federal Trade Commission |date=2009-11-04 |access-date=2014-05-26}} Shut down by the FBI and FTC in October 2008. Smith served 11 months in federal prison and forfeited over $800,000 in assets.{{cite web|url=http://www.fbi.gov/stlouis/press-releases/2009/sl080709a.htm |title=FBI — Business Manager for National and International Counterfeit Goods/Spam Operation Pleads Guilty |publisher=Fbi.gov |access-date=2013-07-07}}
• Robert Alan Soloway, who lost a $7 million civil judgment against Microsoft and was forced to pay $10 million to a small ISP in Oklahoma. Soloway was eventually caught by the FBI and sentenced to 47 months in prison.{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18955115|title=One of world's top 10 spammers held in Seattle|publisher=NBC News|date=May 31, 2007|access-date=May 4, 2010}}
• Gary Thuerk,{{cite web|url=http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207500296|title=Spam Turns 30 And Never Looked Healthier|last=Claburn|first=Thomas|date=May 2, 2008|access-date=November 7, 2009|archive-date=December 8, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091208081529/http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207500296|url-status=dead}} the "Father of Spam" who sent out the first unsolicited email blast to 600 ARPANet members, in 1978.{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-spam11may11001420,1,2568452.story?coll=la-mininav-technology|title=Opening Pandora's In-Box | work=Los Angeles Times | date=May 11, 2003 | access-date=May 8, 2010 | first=David | last=Streitfeld}}
• Khan C. Smith, the first major prolific spammer and technology developer to be sued by a major ISP in a landmark case resulting in a $25 million fine and collapse of the largest spam network in history. Court documents show his illegal network delivered over 25% of all email sent in the world until 2001.{{cite news|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2002/07/22/story4.html | work=Biz Journals | title=EarthLink wins $25 million lawsuit against junk e-mailer | date=Jul 22, 2002}}
• Sanford Wallace, who was fined $4 million under the CAN-SPAM Act in 2006, lost a $230 million judgment to MySpace in May 2008, and was ordered to pay $711 million in damages to Facebook in 2009 for accessing users' accounts without their permission and sending phony posts and messages.{{cite news|title=Life In Spamalot |first=Deborah |last=Scoblionkov |url=http://www.citypaper.net/articles/012298/hr1.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990221171301/http://www.citypaper.net/articles/012298/hr1.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 21, 1999 |publisher=Philadelphia City Paper |date=January 22, 1998 |access-date=October 30, 2009 }}{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/30/sanford-wallace-facebook-_n_339703.html | work=Huffington Post | title=Sanford Wallace: Facebook Wins $711 Million In Case Against 'Spam King' | date=October 30, 2009}}
• Adam Guerbuez, who was fined $873 million by the U.S. District Court for Northern District of California in a case brought by Facebook.{{cite news|title=Facebook says prosecution of billion-dollar spammer not over|url=https://www.itworld.com/article/2750017/facebook-says-prosecution-of-billion-dollar-spammer-not-over.html}}