In some cases, the entities listed below are the actual senders. In some cases, the entities below are "spamvertisers" they advertise in spam sent by contracted third party agents. A few of them are spam networks, who sign up as affiliates of the advertisers and then further outsource the actual sending to their own third party agents. And a few are contracted email senders, but if the emails originate from their servers and the clickthrough links point to their servers, then they're advertising in the spams too.
I use the term principal on my website not to mean A is a CEO, President, Vice President, Secretary, Director, etc. of B. Rather, as discussed on the Spam and the Law page, I use the term principal in the context of agent-principal liability, which says that the principal is liable for the [unlawful] actions of the agent. In the world of spamming, agent could mean either that A actively hired B to spam on its behalf, or A operates an affiliate program and passively allowed B to sign up by click-click-clicking through a web-based form agreement. It doesnt really matter which; liability still flows uphill from agent to principal.
|
2012 |
Trancos Inc.
dba CoregMedia.com and USAProductsOnline.com
Trancos claims to be an advertising network... but they're also a direct
spammer too. Eight spams in 2007, from eight nonsensical different domain
names, all of which were privately registered. False statements in the
body of the spam too, like that I signed up from a particular IP address in
Indiana. I was in Los Angeles on the supposed date of opt-in, and I have a
declaration from the California Attorney General to prove it. Seven of the
eight From Names "Paid Survey," "Your Business," etc. were generic and did
not identify the advertiser/sender.
The body of the spams only identify the sender as USAProductsOnline.com, which
of course is privately registered too, and an address that turns out to be a
branch of The UPS Store in Los Angeles. I subpoenaed The UPS Store, and
learned that the box was rented to a Lewis J. Wright Jr., claiming an address
that, after further research, I identified as Trancos' Pacific Palisades
location. Oh yeah, Trancos also willfully failed to register
USAProductsOnline.com as a fictitious business name, as required by Bus. & Prof.
Code ง 17910. How do I know it was knowingly? Because "Trancos dba
Adfish" sued one of its own advertisers, and the complaint says that Trancos has
complied with all applicable laws re: fictitious business names, and it actually
registered Adfish as an FBN a month before it started spamming me using
the USAProductsOnline.com pseudonym.
I sued in 2008. The case went to trial on October 13, 2009. On
March 10, 2010, the Court issued a
Final Judgment and Statement of Decision in my favor as to the spam cause of
action, but against me as to the CLRA. (Note: The Final Judgment and
Statement of Decision is hosted on scribd.com, not my own website.) To
the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that a case has actually gone
to trial under Bus. & Prof. Code ง 17529.5, other than small claims court.
Read the press release
here.
Defendants filed an appeal on the spam cause of action, and I filed a
cross-appeal on the CLRA cause of action.
On February 24, 2012, the Court of
Appeal issued a published Order affirming the trial court in all respects: I win
on the anti-spam cause of action, and I don't have standing on the CLRA cause of
action. Trancos also owes me $82K in attorneys' fees on a $7K judgment,
and it would have been a lot more than that except that I did a lot of the work
on the case myself and couldn't bill for it. Read the Order
here. (Note: The Order is hosted on courtinfo.ca.gov, not my own
website.) It's worth noting that Trancos could have settled this
matter confidentially four years ago for a couple thousand bucks.
|
2011 |
Moniker Privacy Services LLC and Oversee.net Inc.
Four plaintiffs, including me, sued Moniker because Moniker was the legal owner of porn/fake "adult dating" websites at the time we received the spams. Read the complaint here. Numerous sources, including ICANN, WIPO, several courts, several registrars, and Moniker itself state that a proxy registration service is the legal owner of proxy-registered domain names. Moniker can cross-complain if it wants to against its licensee, but my clients and I maintain that that doesn't change the fact that Moniker is the legal owner/registrant of the domain names and liable.
|
2010 |
TropicInks LLC, Datastream Group Inc., and Leigh-Ann Colquhoun
Scroll down to 2005, and you'll see a lawsuit against DSG Direct Inc., Your-Info Inc. et al. The Court entered judgment in my favor in 2008. I seized 1% of the judgment by levying on AmEx payments to DSG Direct. Two months later, Leigh-Ann Colquhoun the sole corporate officer of DSG Direct and Your-Info caused the companies to dissolve. Two weeks later, Colquhoun starts up TropicInks LLC... operating the same websites from the same physical address, and she is one of but two officers. Datastream Group Inc. is the legal owner of the websites. I filed a motion to amend the judgment based on alter ego, successor, and corporate officer theories of liability, but the court denied my motion with no explanation whatsoever, and without ruling on my objections.
So, I filed an appeal. Read my Appellant's Opening Brief.
And read the concurrently-filed Request for Judicial Notice. In Respondents' Opposition to my Motion to Amend Judgment, Colquhoun declares (in an untimely filed & served declaration that was also undated and not signed under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California) that "Datastream is not an e-commerce company like DSG Direct and TropicInks" but just an "Internet services company" (whatever that means). What's interesting is, in 2008 the Michigan Attorney General sued Datastream not DSG Direct or Your-Info and in the Consent Judgment, Datastream admitted that it sent/caused spams to be sent, and it had the ability to control the spams... which discredits and undermines their claim to my trial court. Also, Datastream's Articles of Incorporation state that it was created for "Internet Marketing" which is broader than just providing domain name management services.
Here's Respondents' Opening Brief. Note the utter failure to address the Michigan case, the fact that the supposed key employee was never named as an officer, the irrelevant discussion of Florida law, glossing over successor liability (a separate theory from alter ego liability), and the several-page-long digression into the "stages of grief" a transparent sympathy ploy that has no legal merit. Also, referencing Eric Reinertsen as an officer (not that he was ever named on corporate filings either) isn't exactly helpful he's been identified by several sources as one of the top spammers in the world. Also blatantly false claims that DSG Direct and Your-Info's last corporate filings were in 2005. Nope, 2007.
Here's my Appellant's Reply Brief and Second Request for Judicial Notice... addressing the above-referenced (and more!) problems with Respondents' Opening Brief.
On June 14, 2010, the Court of Appeal partially reversed the Superior Court in my favor, adding TropicInks LLC to the judgment as successor, but holding that I didn't have enough evidence to establish liability as to Datastream Group as alter-ego or Colquhoun personally as alter-ego or corporate officer. Read the (unpublished) Order.
In post-judgment discovery, the Court entered issue sanctions and made findings of fact that will support liability for various other companies and individuals. Motion to Amend the Judgment forthcoming.
|
2009 |
Amanda Greiner
Ms. Greiner created a fake business name ("Madd
Roi LLC") and used multiple domain names all of which were registered to
fake people, business, and addresses to send her spam. But I tracked her
down and got her served. Read the
(slightly redacted) Verified Complaint. Read the
Ms. Greiner created a fake business name ("Madd
Roi LLC") and used multiple domain names all of which were registered to fake
people, business, and addresses to send her
spam. But I tracked her down and got her served. Click
judgment entered
against her.
Sallie Mae
Inc. and SLM Corporation
I had a dispute with Sallie Mae
read the First Amended
Complaint but the matter has
been settled and dismissed.
Startup Consultants LLC et al
Darren Cleveland is the registered agent and principal officer of Startup Consultants
LLC (also dba TheAdDoctors.com) and RDC Consulting Inc. Gregoire
Gasparini was his partner. My complaint alleged that they sent me spams from multiple
domain names that they had registered in the name of a nonexistent entity, "IRL Technet Ltd.," at an address that turned
out to be an Irish Pub. (My letter to that address was returned undeliverable.)
The letter I sent to the P.O. Box that appears in
the body of the spams was returned unclaimed. Cleveland et al did a
fairly good job of hiding themselves, but I sent the sourcecode/clickthrus to several of the
advertisers featured in the spams, and the advertisers identified
Cleveland/Startup Consultants as the source. Click
Read the Complaint.
I settled with and dismissed Cleveland, Gasparini,
Startup Consultants LLC, and RDC Consulting Inc... no admission of liability by
any of them. Cleveland claims that "IRL Technet Ltd.,"
owned by "Ivan Lightbourne,"
is a separate
entity supposedly located in the Bahamas. I have no information at this
time to confirm or deny that, but it doesn't change the fact that three
advertisers independently identified Cleveland/Startup Consultants... not IRL
Technet.
No settlement with TravelFleaMarket.com Inc.
(owned by Robert Phillips of Oceanside,
NY) another named defendant who, with these spams, violated a previous consent decree not to
send me unlawful spam.
Default judgment entered for $15K).
DSG Direct et al.
DSG Direct Inc. of Bonita Springs, FL appears to
have been created from the old Evo Clix Inc. and Your-Info Inc., both also
in Florida
big shock there. I unsubscribed five times from
Evo Clix, back when I naively thought that might actually work to stop the
spam. (To be precise, I unsubscribed via email, weblink, and certified
letters to Evo Clix and its registered agent.)
Judgment entered for Plaintiff in 2008. I seized 1% of the
judgment by levying on AmEx payments, and then the companies shut down. I
filed a motion to amend the judgment in 2009, but lost. And then I filed
an appeal. See TropicInks, above.
|
2008 |
TLM Enterprises Group
This "resume spammer" is off the charts in terms of deceptive means of
evading spam filters. At the time of filing, there were 65 spams...
sent from 26 unique domain names, 37 unique email addresses, 20 unique IP
addresses indicating origination in 8 different states, and 11 different
ISPs. A few more spams since filing too. Various other types of
falsity in the email bodies, and most don't include a physical mailing
address as required by CAN-SPAM either. Defendants ignored several
letters, so we're in court.
Judgment entered for Plaintiff.
|
2005 |
USGuides.net
Click
here
to read the complaint as filed. Settled this one.
|
2004 |
Glen Hannifin and Usavedepot
My attorneys got involved in this Superior Court case. Hannifin denies all liability but
he never filed any papers with
the Court. Not one. Even after the Sheriff showed up at his door
with an original, and then an amended complaint. Default judgment of $18,000 in March, 2004. But Hannifin
actually has far more serious problems than my judgment;
Microsoft sued him for $7.4 million.
|
2003 |
Prospect Data Corp. and Permission Communications
Inc. (FL)
This was another Superior Court
case.
We settled
out-of-court in March 2003. No more spam since the settlement.
|
2002 |
Toplander Corp. and YesMail (IL)
This was my first attempt at writing a complaint for Superior Court.
It wasn't particularly well-written, but the spammers in Illinois didn't
want to litigate in California, so we settled out-of-court in October
2002. No more spam since the settlement.
|
MORE TO COME |
Unknown Spammer dba "Jambo
Jack"
This spammer sent dozens of spams from dozens of domain names, all of which were
falsely registered. NameCheap.com is the reseller for the registrar
Enom.com. NameCheap finally, after threats of legal action, removed the
Whoisguard privacy protection, but that's not quite the same thing as
identifying its licensee (the actual spammer), which it is required to do
pursuant to the
ICANN-Registrar Accreditation Agreement, paragraph 3.7.7.3, otherwise it
accepts all liability. So, it looks like NameCheap will be sued, along
with "Jambo Jack" as a Doe defendant, and all of the advertisers:
NameCheap.com, hiding its
real address via a box at The UPS Store in Westchester, CA, and its rude owner
Richard Kirkendall
AER Investments
Corporation dba SurveyRewardsCenter.com of Boca Raton, FL and its
owner, Warren Rustin
ConsumerBargainGiveaways LLC dba
OpinionResearchPanel.com of Evanston, Illinois and its principal
Jeff Zweben
Find Your Customers Inc. dba
Secure-Cash.net of Austin, TX and Carlsbad, CA
Focus Interactive Inc. dba
Iwon.com of White Plans, NY
Global Travel International Inc.
dba GlobalTravel.com of Maitland, FL
Insweb Corp. and Insweb Insurance
Services Inc. dba Insweb.com of Gold River, CA
TrueBeginnings LLC dba
True.com of Irving, TX
WomensCashAlliance.com
of Burlington, VT
Unnamed
Illinois Spammer
I filed two lawsuits against this spammer, which
shall not be named here. The spammer tried to hide its identity by registering its domain names with private WhoIs
services - which is itself a violation of federal law, 18 USC ง 1037(a)(4), but I got 'em.
Some of thispam,
include:
123td.com LLC dba Pronto Mortgage Express
of Westminster, CA
Achieve Wellness LLC
of Atlanta, GA
Affinity
Direct LLC of Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Alliance Acquisitions Associates
Inc. of Marietta, GA
America's Who's Who Registries of
Outstanding Professionals LLC (also dba Prestige Who's Who Registries) of Patchogue, NY
American Medical Services / American Health Services of
Clearwater, FL
ASH Books and Sean C.
Hanzelik of Harrison, TN
Betco
Enterprises Inc. of New York, NY and Booth
International LLC of Spring Valley, NY
Cash Cow Enterprises LLC
of Mauldin, SC
Certified Auto Alliance of
Fremont, CA and Michael Burkey
Colorado Baking Company Inc.
of West Chicago, IL - Default Judgment Entered
"Direct Investors"
of Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Emergency Internet Solutions
of Houston, TX
E.T. Communications of
Newark, OH
Famous Idols Inc. of Ft.
Lauderdale, FL
Financial Debt Solutions LLC of Clearwater, FL
Global
Icon Inc. dba InStyleSwimwear.com of Richboro, PA
Gyrocom Inc. of West Palm
Beach, FL
Hold-It Systems Ltd of
Lima, OH
Intelligent Resources Corp.,
Intelligent Resources Consulting and Bruce J. Frisch of Santa Cruz, CA
Lead Capture Pros Inc. of
Canton, OH
Lesko Enterprises Inc. of
Albion, PA
Liquidity International Inc. dba Global Gold of Carrollton, TX
The
Livingstone Corporation of Wheaton, IL
Marblestone Funding Inc.
of Fremont, CA
- Default Judgment Entered
Charles C. McGowen
dba LifeSpaceMatters.com of Lighthouse Point, FL
- Default Judgment Entered
Melaleuca Inc. of Idaho
Falls, ID and Jack Burney of Georgetown, TX
MyLostPet.net of Berlin,
CT
National Communications Group LLC of Weston, FL
Charles O. Nwarueze dba FleetPrize.com and Benchmark
Mortgage Capital of Fontana, CA
Personal Tax Services Inc. dba RedTaxFrog.com of Calhoun, GA
Puig Development Corporation /
Venetia Country Club of Largo, FL
- Default Judgment Entered
Remark
International LTD of Wheeling, IL
Resorts Unlimited Inc. of
North Salt Lake, UT and Perforum Marketing of Orem,
UT
Riptopia Inc. of
Washington, DC
Rush
Gideon LLC of Des Moines, IA
"Savvy Investor"/"Stock Wire" of
Santa Monica, CA
Secure Call Management Inc.
of Los Angeles, CA
- Default Judgment Entered
Sheridan Distributing Inc. dba
fitandfiddle.com of Williamsville, NY
Stone
International LLC dba Nextou.com of Columbia, SC
Tamara Dorris dba MillionDollarAgent.org of
Carmichael, CA
Tiferet Journal and
Baier Stein Direct of Peapack, NJ and
Miriam's Well Inc. of Saugerties, NY
Vision Marketing dba
TheMoneyDoctorSystem.com of Orange, Florida and
Anthony Lee dba alcashplus.com, an individual in Kinston, NC
WM Inc. of Los Angeles, CA
YourDoormat.com of
Richmond, VA
-
3B Software Inc. dba dtv4pc.net of Arlington, TX
-
8th Floor Interactive LLC dba NewOffersClub.com of Lewis, DE
-
Alliance Advance Corp. dba "Mt. Courtney Financial" and "Monde Financial" of Wyoming, DE, Visions Marketing Network LLC of Palm Beach Gardens, FL and its California spamming services, Uptilt Inc. (dba EmailLabs) of Menlo Park, CA and Excedior Inc. (dba ResultsMail) of Santa Ana, CA
-
Daniel L. Allen dba ClickVerse.com of North Hollywood, CA
-
Auctiva Corporation of Chico, CA
-
Axis Interactive Media Inc. of Hollywood, FL... also claiming addresses in Hialeah and Loxahatchee, FL
-
"Judge" Doug Bench dba The Brain Training Academy and BrainApples.com of McIntosh, FL. Some sort of "improve your brain" thing. But before you buy in because a "Judge" must be intelligent and trustworthy, consider that Doug Bench is NOT a judge; in fact, he is not even a lawyer. Bench was disbarred in Ohio in 1994 for felony grand theft, felony forgery, moral turpitude, intentionally damaging clients, knowingly using false evidence and making false statements, misappropriating client funds, etc. Dayton Bar Association v. Bench, 71 Ohio St. 3d 202 (Ohio 1994).
-
Blastoff Communications LLC dba BlastoffNetwork.com of Plano, TX
-
BlueHornet of San Diego, CA (part of Digital River of Eden Prairie, MN), who sent a spam under the direction of Keith Glantz dba InsidersPicks.net of Las Vegas, NV and The Insiders Group Inc. of Dundalk, MD
-
Bosley Inc., Bosley Medical Group, Bosley Medical Institute, and/or Bosley Hair Restoration of Beverly Hills, CA
-
Capsoft Inc. dba MyCapsoft.com of Houston, TX (retailer of "ErrorSmart" software)
-
Caribbean Cruise Line dba caribbeancl.com of Pompano Beach, FL and John Damico dba got2getaway2010.com of Osteen, FL
-
Clickspeed Marketing Inc. dba emergencybucks.com of Overland Park, KS
-
Complete Web Services Inc. dba WebHostingPad.com dba TheRevilo.com of Rolling Meadows IL (a domain registrar advertising its own registration services)
-
DP Enterprises Inc. dba DishPronto.com of New York, NY
-
"Effective Marketing" supposedly in New Zealand and Canada. Principals include:
Achieve Financial Security LLC of Jacksonville, FL
DentalPlans.com of Dania, FL -
E-Track Media Corporation and Chris Mahle of Boca Raton, FL. Principals include:
Granite Investment Group LLC of Bedford, TX
HDVE LLC dba True.com of Irving, TX
Way Beyond Communications LLC of Boca Raton, FL -
Evan-Allen Services and Rob Goodstein of Concord, CA... spamming to email addresses scraped from the Bar Association of San Francisco website.
-
EverFocus Electronics Corp. of Duarte, CA
-
FreeCollegeScholarships.net of San Francisco, CA
-
Geary Group and Geary Interactive dba CollegeUSA.org of San Diego and San Francisco, CA
-
Gilbert Consulting Services Inc. of Arroyo Grande, CA
-
Ryan Gillies of Phoenix, AZ
-
HonestDogSports.com of Debary, FL
-
Roger Hoover dba 17FoodsThatHeal.com of Kirbyville, MO
-
IMVU Inc. of Palo Alto/Mountain View, CA
Eric Lee of Mountain View, CA, who sent a phishing spam pretending to be American Airlines
Lighthouse Christian Channel Inc. dba couponfor.org of Laguna Niguel, CA, and since its corporate status has been suspended, its President Caesar Elmi too
LimosBusesJets.com LLC and Leonard Okoth of Mays Landing, NJ
Liquid Marketing Inc. and Lead Jungle Inc. of Boca Raton, FL
Liquid Ventures LLC dba Hookup.com of Boulder, CO
Lockerz LLC dba lockerz.com, a Delaware limited liability company
Chris Luckie dba Itechfeed.com of Ravenna, OH
Macronet International LLC of Buffalo, WY. Ironically, the spams I received advertised Macronet's software to send email to opt-in addresses.
Magic Marketing Group LLC of Carson City, NV
Mari Media Inc. and Kirk Leddon of Hialeah, FL
Tony Mathews dba ISG Handicappers and Insiders Sports Group of Las Vegas, NV
Memolink, Inc. of Lakewood, CO and David Asseoff (note, Asseoff is also behind Trifecta Inc., who I already sued)
MikeFilsaime.com Inc. dba MyViralAds.com of Ronkonkoma, NY
NameCheap Inc. dba funtimeadlt.com of Westchester, CA
OperationalSystemsPages.com, Online-OperationalSystems.com, OperationalSystems-Online.com, OperationalSystemsHome.com, etc. of New York, NY
Neohire.com of Santa Monica, CA
Christopher Post of Setauket, NY, who sent spams from Gmail, linking to domain names watchsunsets.info and intriguedlove.com, both of which were registered to a fake name/address, but the ad network through which he sent the spams gave him up.
Rapid Funds (a division of Modesco LLC) dba RapidFunds.com and Jim Pacelli of Cumming, GA
Rapid Response Marketing dba x7.com
of Las Vegas, NV and its advertisers:
BullsEye Media Inc. dba
ThePrizeCenter.com of Harrisburg, PA
MySnoringSolution.com
of Lillian, AL
SmartNet Development LLC dba
FastBusinessFunding.net
of St. George, UT
RebateProcessorJobs.com and Cindy Dalton of Colton, CA which is a complete scam anyway, according to the L.A. County Better Business Bureau
RelationServe Media Inc. dba "Telespace"
of Fort Lauderdale, FL and its principals:
K2 Marketing Group Inc. of Pasadena, CA
Remedy Media LLC
dba MediaGroup of Irvine, CA and The Data Market Place Corp.
and Peter Roccisano (doing business as
Professional Internet Marketing Solutions
of Weston, FL. Principals include:
Golf Nutrition
Sciences Inc. dba GNS
of Arvada, CO
Memolink Inc. of Lakewood, CO and David Asseoff
(note, Asseoff is also
behind Trifecta Inc., who I already sued)
The New York Times Company
of New York, NY
Rochelle Gordon, purported psychic, of Milford, CT
RightInsurance.org (not a real company) of Laguna Beach, CA, owned by Jim Hobbs of Denver, CO
Rockstar Marketing Inc. dba TodaysPicks.net of Orlando, FL
S-Infotech Inc.
dba RealOffers
and Richard Simnett of Boca
Raton, FL. Principals include:
26RedMarketing LLC of
Provo, UT
Eleventh Street Ventures Inc.
and Jason Phillips dba Trade-In-Value.com
of Newport Beach, CA
ESI One LLC of Las Vegas,
NV and ESI Management LLC of Sandy, UT
PlatinumRomance.com of
Plano, TX
Rick Saling dba AdventSearch.com of Cincinnati, OH
SLJ Group Inc. dba Universal Star Council of Lake Forest, IL
Small Cap Investor of Delray Beach, FL
Stress-Free Technologies LLC dba LowStressIncome.com of Queen City, AZ
"Suvrath LLC" dba 50states-auto-warranty.info and paydayloancare.info of Santa Clarita, California no such company (and a separate violation of B&P Code ง 17910.5(b) to claim you're an LLC when you're not), so liability on Deebo Manning and Vishal Shah personally
Greg Thompson dba Coach-Thompsons-International-Club.com of Willoughby, OH
Daniel Todd dba LawFirmSites.com of American Fork, UT
Walla Media, a dba of Revenue Media Empire Inc. of Santa Monica, CA
Bill Warren of Lake Balboa, CA dba AListCoverage.com and CarWarrantyNow.com, and AKMG, an ad network in El Segundo, CA
Wayne Jackson Enterprises LLC dba OcalaSuccess.net of Ocala, FL
Woodcrest College of Woodcrest, CA and Monterey Polytechnic Institute of Monterey, CA, the registrant of the domain name WoodcrestCollege.org. Woodcrest College sent spams to three of my email addresses, indicating that they're spamming to a suppression list. But, "Woodcrest College" is a total scam to begin with. The entire "degree based on life experience" a joke the "exam" is sub-SAT verbal questions. More seriously, the address claimed on the website 17457 Van Buren Blvd. in Woodcrest, CA literally doesn't exist. I know because I personally did a drive-by on July 8, 2010.
Spammer
Who Shall Not Be Named. Principals include:
Buena Vista Catalog Co. and
Disney Enterprises Inc. dba DisneyMovieClub.com
of Burbank, CA
Corinthian Colleges Inc.
of Santa Ana, CA
DoubleDay Entertainment dba
Book-of-the-Month Club and OneSpirit.com
of Garden City, NY
Eleventh Street Ventures Inc. dba
Trade-In-Value.com
of Newport Beach, CA
Internet Cash Advance Marketing Inc. dba
PayDayAngels.com and FirstLibertyCash.com
of Vancouver, BC Canada
QuickApply Inc.
of Venice,
CA
Ultima Patch LLC
of San
Diego, CA
Watermark Media Group Inc. dba
Poetry.com
of Owings Mills, MD
|
MY ATTORNEY |
I am represented by Timothy Walton, a California attorney (in Aptos) with extensive experience in the spam and technology areas, who shares my passion for fighting spam. www.timothywalton.com
