New Zealander in spam bust

INSPECTOR Knacker of the Queensland Yard has fingered the collar of a New Zealander who the US Authorities have named as the ringleader of the largest spam operation in the world.

Lance Atkinson, 26, who lives in Pelican Waters in Queensland, has had his assets frozen by a US district court and his spam network shut down.

Atkinson had an Australian-registered company called Inet Ventures which encouraged people to click through to websites that allegedly used false claims to peddle prescription drugs. Also flogged were "male enhancement" gear and weight-loss pills.

Atkinson allegedly controlled a "botnet" of 35,000 computers and sent out 10 billion email spams a day, coppers claim.

It is not the first time that Atkinson has been in trouble with the law. In 2005 he was fined $US2.2 million by the FTC for running a similar spam network that flogged herbal products. µ

L’Inq
AP