Fake PayPal, AOL spam operations stopped by FTC, DOJ

Computerworld - A spam e-mail operation that sent out e-mails falsely claiming to be from PayPal or America Online Inc., tricking hundreds of consumers into entering their credit card, banking and user account information on fake PayPal and AOL Web sites, has been stopped by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
In a joint announcement yesterday, the two agencies said that Zachary Keith Hill of Houston has been ordered to halt the identity theft operation, which was the type of scam also known as phishing, while he awaits sentencing on federal criminal charges.
Each agency led its own probe into Hill's activities.
In a criminal case brought by the DOJ in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, Hill pleaded guilty last month to charges of using illegally obtained account access information to buy goods worth more than $1,000 and to a charge of illegally possessing account information for more than 15 people on his PC.
In a separate civil lawsuit filed by the FTC in December (download PDF), Hill was charged with false affiliation for claiming that the e-mail messages he sent were from PayPal, AOL and other Internet service providers. He was also charged with making false claims to consumers so they would provide account information and with one count of unfair use of that private information and a count of inducing consumers to submit account information by using deceptive means. The 24-page complaint asked the court to issue an injunction barring Hill from continuing his operations.
Casey Stavropoulos, a DOJ spokeswoman, said Hill is expected to be sentenced on the criminal charges on May 18. He faces a maximum prison term of 10 to 15 years, she said, but he could get a lesser sentence as a result of his cooperation with authorities after his arrest. He also faces fines of at least $200,000 plus restitution.
Hill sent the fake e-mails between March 2001 and February 2003, according to the DOJ.
Investigators were able to link Hill to the fake messages through e-mail addresses that were embedded in the HTML code in the fake Web pages, said Patricia Poss, one of the FTC attorneys working on the case. The HTML code in the Web pages directed the information entered by consumers to Hill's e-mail addresses, Poss said.

The FTC case against Hill remains in litigation, she said. He has agreed to the preliminary injunction that halted his operations while both sides work to resolve the case. Hill is connected to at