Australian financial services firm CommSec was fined $55,000 (roughly $48K US) for violating that country’s Spam Act. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) levied the fine after it launched an investigation into the company’s mail campaigns and found they were in violation of the Spam Act. That Act, like the CAN-SPAM Act, requires that all commercial email include a way to unsubscribe and that emailers honor those requests. The ACMA’s investigation, prompted by numerous consumer complaints, found that the company’s emails had no unsubscribe directions and that they ignored requests from consumers who asked to be taken off their mailing list.

          “ACMA expects that Australian businesses take note of this outcome,” ACMA chairman Chris Chapman said. “Under the Spam Act, every person has the right to unsubscribe from receiving commercial electronic messages and to have that request acted on effectively and quickly. The failure to act on a request can result in significant penalties if a business is found to have breached the Act.”

CommSec sent over 6 million advertising emails in 2009. The company says it has agreed to have an independent consultant to review its compliance systems and to also provide additional training to its staff.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has fined a New Zealand man $15 million; Spamhaus claims this is one of the largest spam gangs in the world. The gang, operating under the names “Canadian Healthcare” and “HerbalKing” has been operating since 2005 and has sent billions of spam messages hawking male enhancement products, weight loss pills and other pharmaceuticals. The spam messages directed the recipients to websites owned by an affiliate network called Affking. The sites claimed to be offering drugs from U.S. pharmacies when they were actually shady black market drugs made in India. They also stole credit card information and personal data. The gang appears to have made their profits from all three operations – the fake drugs, the affiliate network and the data harvesting.

The drugs are untested and could be dangerous if used. The gang leader, Lance Atkinson, and his partner Jody Smith, were also ordered to turn over all their assets, which amount to over $1 million, and Smith faces jail time. Their company, Inet Ventures Pty Ltd, registered in Australia, has received over 3 million complaints from consumers. Spamming seems to run in the family. Atkinson’s brother, Shane was fined over $112,000 earlier this year by a New Zealand court for his spamming activities.

Atkinson is a New Zealand citizen living in Australia, which will make collecting on the fine difficult. He’s not required to pay unless he enters the U.S. Smith however, does live in the U.S. and will soon be sentenced for conspiracy to traffic counterfeit goods, which he pled guilty to. The conviction carries a maximum 5 year sentence.

Spam is an international problem that no single country is able to solve on its own.  Although different countries to Australia have their own strict laws against spam, there is really nothing to stop a person outside of that jurisdiction from spamming Australians every single day.

In my recent post on spam vs email marketing it was mentioned that a global law enforcement body may be what we ultimately need in order to fully address the problem of spam.

Some companies have tried to tackle the problem themselves, such as Microsoft offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for the Conficker worm.

One state in Australia has taken the problem seriously and is trialing a system that will permit victims of Nigerian phishing scams to report their case directly to authorities in the African nation.  Queensland police Detective Superintendent Brian Hay leads the Fraud and Corporate Crime Group which has also developed other initiatives to prevent internet fraud or make it easier to report and investigate.

          In the early stages, we’re having some wins. Some of those investment and inheritance scams are reducing but the big problem that we’ve got now is we’ve seen a 100 per cent increase in romance and relationship scams. It’s just gone through the roof.

How effective this will ultimately be is unknown, given that spammers have a track record of constantly adjusting their methods to get around new prevention techniques.  It is hoped that more open communication and effective reporting may make it easier for authorities in countries such as Nigeria to permanently strike at the root of the problem.

A Dutch software developer has been fined over $300,000 for sending more than 21 million spam messages. He will also be charged a little over $7,000 for each day he continues to spam. Reinier Schenkhuizen was first warned in 2004 that he was in violation of Dutch anti-spam laws but ignored it, resulting in 379 more spam complaints being lodged against him and a raid on his home.

Schenkhuizen continues to deny that he is a spammer and plans to appeal the ruling. He claims that the emails customers send with his email client do have an ad for his company in them but that it can not and should not be considered spam. However, Schenkhuizen’s business is described as an “internet promo” company which really does seem like a fancy way of saying spamming.

It is encouraging to see European countries getting tough on spam. Many spammers user servers and ISPs located overseas because it is easier to avoid detection and prosecution there. Hopefully if more and more countries develop tough anti-spam and anti-cybercrime laws the war against spammers and hackers will finally make some real headway.