WebProNews, KY
July 25 2005
Did Anti-Spam Gang Kill Russian Spammer?
David Utter | Staff Writer | 2005-07-25
Certain anti-spam parties have made threats in the past against some
of the world’s more notorious spammers.
Russia’s Interfax news agency reports that notorious spammer Vardan
Kushnir was found brutally murdered. His body was discovered in his
Moscow apartment on Sunday, showing evidence of repeated blows to the
head.
Mr. Kushnir headed English learning centers known for their
persistent aggressive spamming. Millions of messages sent by the
firms went out each day. Spamming is not presently illegal under
Russian law.
Some angry users have retaliated against his firms by plaguing them
with numerous phone calls, bombarding it with emails, or even
advertising the firms’ phone numbers in bogus ads for escort services
or bargain real estate offers.
Mr. Kushnir was of Armenian descent, and became reviled among Russian
email users for the continuous flow of junk messages from his
American Language Center in 2003. Email wasn’t the only method used;
Mr. Kushnir’s company filled forums, blogs, and ICQ channels with its
messages.
The ALC website soon became a favorite target for hackers, and
Russian Internet service providers frequently closed down his sites
when users complained about the spamming practices.
Among those complaints came death threats; it is speculated that
while many were from angered users, some may have come from the sort
of loosely-organized anti-spam gangs described in the 2004 book Spam
Kings.
And possibly, one followed through on the many deadly promises made
over the years to Mr. Kushnir, in his Moscow apartment over the
weekend.