“Free Gift Card” spammer given 27 months JAIL time

In a victory for all those who just hate spam – which is presumably everyone except people who send spam – a prolific spammer started his 27 month sentence this week.

Phillip Fleitz, 31 of Indiana, was responsible for millions of emails and text messages purporting to provide free gift cards for brands like “Best Buy”. When recipients clicked on the links included in the messages to claim their gift card, they were forwarded to a typical bait-and-switch scheme.

This means the recipients were actually forwarded to the landing pages of marketing companies offering cost-per-action programs that bore no resemblance to the messages sent by Fleitz. I.e. no free gift cards.

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Fleitz, working as part of a trio, was said to be the mastermind of the operation, controlling servers in China to gain control of thousands of infected computers to help them send millions of texts and emails to unsuspecting people across the world.

Perhaps all too often spammers are given too lenient a sentencing on the rare occasions they do find themselves caught by the authorities. However this could prove to be a landmark case and a warning to all spammers out there that sending unsolicited messages could result in real jail time.

Frustratingly Fleitz’s two co-conspirators were let off a little easier, with 2 years’ probation, but we’re sure they’ll be in no hurry before sending anyone any spam again.

“I just want to say I’m sorry,” Fleitz said, claiming that the regulations governing the way companies and individuals can market content to other people through text or email is one of the things that “make this country great” [referring to the USA] and should be followed.

“I was stupid for not doing so” he added.

Hopefully he’ll follow his own advice when he leaves prison.