It’s always good news when we see spam levels on our mail filtering service drop. Though our clients rarely notice increases or decreases in spam levels due the technologies Mailshine uses to filter mail, we definitely see it on our end. Often these drops or spikes in mail traffic correlate directly with events in the media pertaining to another spamming organization that has been shut down. Unfortunately, it seems that as soon as one shuts down, another starts up.

Yesterday Alan Ralsky, often referred to as the “Godfather of Spam”, was sentenced to 4-years in a federal prison. Ralsky’s operation pulled in millions of dollars through “pump and dump” schemes of thinly traded stocks in companies you’ve never heard of. Millions of emails would be sent out in an automated fashion via botnets created and run by Ralsky’s staff touting IPOs worth buying into. These stocks often were trading for mere pennies and—amazingly—some would want in on the action. Stock prices would jump at which time the shares would be dumped.

Just how lucrative is this? According to the government’s court documents, here are list of payments documented from one month, July 2005:

• July 5: $180,826.61
• July 11: $211,595.76
• July 14: $13,532
• July 22: $780,295.98
• July 26: $65,590.71
• July 27: $424,963.73
• July 27: $23,702

Ralsky and company earned more than $2.6 million between May 1 and December 1, 2005 alone.

Read the full story here: Arstechnica