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LA-area man first in nation convicted under anti-spam law

LOS ANGELES - A man faces a sentence of up to 101 years in federal prison after being the first person in the U.S. convicted under a federal anti-spam law, authorities said.

Jeffrey Brett Goodin, 45, of Azusa, was found guilty Friday of running a "phishing" scheme that tricked people into believing they were giving personal information to a legitimate business. Prosecutors said Goodin then used the information to go on a spending spree.

Goodin is the first person in the nation convicted under the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act, the U.S. attorney's office said. The law forbids e-mail marketers from sending false or misleading messages and requires them to provide recipients with a way to opt out of receiving future mailings.

During trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Goodin used several compromised Internet accounts to send e-mails to America Online users. The e-mails appeared to be from the company's billing department and told customers to update their billing information or lose service.

The e-mails referred people to one of several Web pages controlled by Goodin where they could enter their personal information, prosecutors said.

In addition to the anti-spam conviction, Goodin was convicted of 10 other counts, including wire fraud, misuse of the AOL trademark and attempted witness harassment.

Goodin is scheduled to be sentenced June 11.

posted by Don Marchand @ 9:58 PM