On the trail of an online pharmaceutical spammer
I'm not sure how much info to provide here - since I don't want to tip my hand - so this will be a bit vague for now:
Several months ago, spam started coming in from a pharmaceutical spammer. He's based in Vancouver and, early last week, I tracked him down and spoke with him briefly on the phone.
He told me that he didn't spam, and that I was actually spamming myself and that if I denied it, I was lying. Now I'm not a tech expert - there's plenty I don't know - I know enough to know that's one of the most bizarre statements ever made. And not the brightest. And then he hung up.
Now I'm intrigued, which is a bit like waving a red flag in front of a bull. This is now my pet pharmacy spam project.
His web site is hosted by WestHost.com
WestHost 164 N Spring Creek Parkway Providence, UT
I wrote to them asking for an interview and got this response:
Dear George:So no comment, but a coupon for free hosting. I'll post to their forum (gonna have to sign up, right?) once there's a bit more research in the file.Thank you for contacting WestHost. I'm afraid we will not be able to do an interview at this time. However, you are welcome to post questions on our forums at: http://forums.westhost.com/
Best Regards,
Mark Cox Data Center Administrator WestHost Phone: 1-800-222-2165 FAX: 435-755-3449
For a limited time, WestHost will give you up to 2 FREE months of hosting for every person you refer. For details, go to http://refer.westhost.com/.
There is a bit more to this story already. All I'll say at this point is that next week, I'm going to start checking into the legitimacy of this activity from the point of view of the regulatory agency where our spammer (claims to) live.
- G
