WebProNews

One of the world's worst spammers, a gang led by Leo Kukayev, had dozens of their websites shut down by a Massachusetts court order for violation of the state's Consumer Protection Act and the Federal CAN-SPAM Act.

The gang, centered in the Boston area, is accused of sending millions of unsolicited, deceptive emails advertising for counterfeit drugs, pirated software, and pornography. A "spam trap" run by Microsoft intercepted 45,000 messages within three weeks.

Listed in the Spamhaus register of the world's 200 worst spammers, Kukayev's team members included Vladislav Khokholkov, Anna Orlova, Pavel Tkachuk, Michelle Marco, Dennis Nartikoev, Pavel Yashin. The group's operations can be traced back to Russia, Monaco, Australia, and France.

The suit, filed by attorney general Tom Reilly, seeks permanent injunction against the spammers and their companies, 2K Services and Ecash Pay.

A statement released with the suit says, "by following the domain names through several of these shifts, uncovering more domain names linked to identical websites, and obtaining registration information from website hosting companies, investigators were able to determine the identity of Kuvayev and others and link them to websites selling counterfeit prescription drugs, pirated software, mortgage loan offers, counterfeit Rolex watches, and pornography."

Score one for the Inbox good guys.