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Gary Maltzen
July 27th, 2005, 10:07 AM
From the July 27 SANS.ORG news:

Vardan Kushnir, a man known to be a spammer, was found beaten to death in his Moscow apartment. No motive for his murder has been established and it is not known if it is related to his spamming activities, though Mr. Kushnir has been the target of revenge attacks in the past. More... (http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/thespamreport/0,39025001,39150764,00.htm)

Peter Creasey
July 27th, 2005, 04:41 PM
>> No motive for his murder has been established and it is not known if it is related to his spamming activities, though Mr. Kushnir has been the target of revenge attacks in the past. <<

Gary, it is almost a tad difficult trying to decide how to feel about this murder. Somewhat mixed emotions!

chm
July 27th, 2005, 09:47 PM
Yeah, especially if it's one of those con-artists or scam spammers...

Nick Parkin
July 28th, 2005, 05:09 AM
Personally I don't feel that there is much that deserves being beaten to death.

I've just received my 1st scam cheque & I have to say you have to be pretty brainless & incredibly greedy to lose money to these scammers. I am the proud owner of an utterly realistic cheque for £5000. The lady who sent it to me has rented a flat off me for £3000, we haven't actually discussed what flat, & how long for, so I am £3000 richer.

Oh shoot, I forgot to wire her the £2000 to cover her flight over from Nigeria - can anyone tell me how to use Western Union to wire money? Don't worry - I will wait till the cheque clears before wiring the money.

Not.

Not only was the whole lead up preposterous, but the professional looking cheque came in a barely legible hand written envelope with nothing but the cheque in it - not even a compliments slip!

I looked up & phoned the company that the preprinted cheque comes from, they are a cosmetic Network Marketing company with agencies in Nigeria, & their cheques have been used for some 2 years. Apparently several people have actually lost money!!!!

Anyone want to buy a £5000 cheque?

I think that I will sell it on e-Bay

Judy G. Russell
July 28th, 2005, 08:32 AM
Vardan Kushnir, a man known to be a spammer, was found beaten to death in his Moscow apartment.
Hmmm... I really hate spammers, but I don't think I'd be enraged enough to kill one.

Lindsey
July 28th, 2005, 05:43 PM
Hmmm... I really hate spammers, but I don't think I'd be enraged enough to kill one.
Not that it excuses anything, but maybe this was a "Joe-job" victim. I have heard some pretty horrendous stories from people who have had their e-mail address hijacked by high-volume spammers, and it wouldn't surprise me if one such victim became enraged enough to become violent.

The worst part of it is that there is so little legal recourse against them. (The spammers, I mean.)

--Lindsey

MollyM/CA
July 28th, 2005, 11:44 PM
Maybe the spammers are starting to kill each other, and wouldn't that be a nice way out of the guilt dilemma. We can quit faking it and just dance for joy!

Dan in Saint Louis
July 29th, 2005, 10:04 AM
I don't think I'd be enraged enough to kill one.
The Russian business climate being what it is today, it is more likely that the victim was a front man performing a service for someone higher up, and got caught skimming too much off the top.

Judy G. Russell
July 29th, 2005, 10:26 AM
Not that it excuses anything, but maybe this was a "Joe-job" victim. I have heard some pretty horrendous stories from people who have had their e-mail address hijacked by high-volume spammers, and it wouldn't surprise me if one such victim became enraged enough to become violent.
I was thinking that it wouldn't be any different from road rage, but then it occurred to me that road rage can at least be partially explained (never excused, but explained) by the immediate provocation of the moment. But to kill a spammer, now that takes premeditation, and that does make it different.

The worst part of it is that there is so little legal recourse against them. (The spammers, I mean.)
Agreed, but without universal enforcement of an international accord, simply impossible. (And we can't get universal international accord on this being Friday!)

Judy G. Russell
July 29th, 2005, 10:28 AM
The Russian business climate being what it is today, it is more likely that the victim was a front man performing a service for someone higher up, and got caught skimming too much off the top.
Too true. Unfortunate, but...

Lindsey
July 29th, 2005, 11:06 PM
But to kill a spammer, now that takes premeditation, and that does make it different.
Premeditation--yeah. OK, I'm trying very hard to see premeditated murder of a spammer as a bad thing...

OK I'm not serious. Well, not entirely, anyway.

Agreed, but without universal enforcement of an international accord, simply impossible. (And we can't get universal international accord on this being Friday!)
Universal international accord? With THIS adminstration? :p :p :p :(

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
July 29th, 2005, 11:20 PM
Premeditation--yeah. OK, I'm trying very hard to see premeditated murder of a spammer as a bad thing... OK I'm not serious. Well, not entirely, anyway.
That's kind of what I was thinking...

Universal international accord? With THIS adminstration? :p :p :p :(

That's kind of what I was thinking on that too...

chm
July 31st, 2005, 04:40 PM
Personally I don't feel that there is much that deserves being beaten to death.

Uh, yeah, I'll agree with you on that. I don't even support the death penalty, actually. I'm very peaceable in real life. I think it's more like some of us would like to beat some spammers to death, figuratively-speaking, so to say.

I agree with you that most of these scamming spammers are ridiculously obvious. Almost laughablly so. Check out the names they use and the titles of their E-mails...

I did almost fall for a couple of phishers spoofing PayPal and Yahoo. I'm wiser now.

Carolyn

sidney
August 1st, 2005, 08:09 PM
From http://mosnews.com/news/2005/07/26/kushnirclonidine.shtml

"The murder of Russia’s biggest spammer Vardan Kushnir was not connected with his Internet activity, but with a straightforward robbery, Moscow investigators reported."

Judy G. Russell
August 1st, 2005, 08:13 PM
"The murder of Russia’s biggest spammer Vardan Kushnir was not connected with his Internet activity, but with a straightforward robbery, Moscow investigators reported."
Hard to decide whether to be relieved... or disappointed...

sidney
August 1st, 2005, 08:17 PM
Hard to decide whether to be relieved... or disappointed...

Check out the details in the story. The police may be calling it a "straightforward" robbery but it reads like a scene right out of a racy soap opera.

Judy G. Russell
August 1st, 2005, 09:17 PM
Check out the details in the story. The police may be calling it a "straightforward" robbery but it reads like a scene right out of a racy soap opera.
"At the scene, investigators discovered soporific, a sleep inducer, in a glass and a woman’s dressing gown and blouse." Oh my...

Bruce K. Fredericks
August 19th, 2005, 10:18 AM
Personally I don't feel that there is much that deserves being beaten to death.

I've just received my 1st scam cheque & I have to say you have to be pretty brainless & incredibly greedy to lose money to these scammers. I am the proud owner of an utterly realistic cheque for £5000. The lady who sent it to me has rented a flat off me for £3000, we haven't actually discussed what flat, & how long for, so I am £3000 richer.

Oh shoot, I forgot to wire her the £2000 to cover her flight over from Nigeria - can anyone tell me how to use Western Union to wire money? Don't worry - I will wait till the cheque clears before wiring the money.

Not.

Not only was the whole lead up preposterous, but the professional looking cheque came in a barely legible hand written envelope with nothing but the cheque in it - not even a compliments slip!

I looked up & phoned the company that the preprinted cheque comes from, they are a cosmetic Network Marketing company with agencies in Nigeria, & their cheques have been used for some 2 years. Apparently several people have actually lost money!!!!

Anyone want to buy a £5000 cheque?

I think that I will sell it on e-Bay
Hello Nick,

Missed you for the past couple of years when you disappeared from The Investors Forum. Amy and I were also intended victims of a Holland Scam last year but when they asked for our bank account number to wire the funds to us . . . well, we aren't stupid, so the communication ceased abruptly <vbg>

Greetings from . . .

Bruce K. Fredericks [Money & Investing Forum]