AOL Worker Nabbed In Spam Plot
An America Online employee stole a list of 92 million customer screen names that was eventually used to send massive amounts of e-mail spam, federal prosecutors said.
Jason Smathers, 24, was fired from his job as a software engineer for the Internet service provider after being arrested at his home in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, company officials said Wednesday. He was charged with conspiracy.
Smathers, who worked at AOL's offices in Dulles, Virginia, sold the list to Sean Dunaway, 21, of Las Vegas, according to a criminal complaint. Dunaway, also charged with conspiracy, then used it to promote an Internet gambling operation and sold it to spammers, the complaint alleges.
Dunaway made an initial appearance in federal court in Las Vegas. He was released and ordered to appear July 23 before a U.S. magistrate judge in New York. He declined to comment after walking out of the federal courthouse. Smathers is to appear in court in Virginia.
Kevin Kelly, Dunaway's lawyer, said Secret Service agents confiscated his client's computer equipment after they took him into custody Wednesday. He said Dunaway's case could be transferred to Las Vegas.
It was unclear Wednesday whether Smathers had yet obtained representation.
David Kelley, U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said the arrests are among the first prosecutions under federal legislation that cracks down on spamming that took effect early this year. AOL is a division of New York-based Time Warner Inc.
Each man could face up to five years in prison and at least $250,000 in fines if convicted.
Prosecutors allege Smathers was not authorized to have access to the screen name list and used another employee's access code last year to steal it. They said he compiled a list that included customer postal codes and credit card types, although it did not appear he gained access to credit card numbers.
"We deeply regret what has taken place and are thoroughly reviewing and strengthening our internal procedures as a result of this investigation and arrest," AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said.
Prosecutors did not immediately say how much they believe Dunaway paid Smathers for the list but said Dunaway later paid him $100,000 for an updated version.
Dunaway offered the list to spammers, charging them $2,000 for lists with names beginning with a single letter, or $52,000 for the entire list, the complaint said.
By Erin McClam