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Spam falls by a fifth a day after Russian operation shut down
The number of spam emails sent globally has fallen by one fifth or fifty billion emails a day after a Russian spamming operation was shut down a month ago.
By Andrew Osborn in Moscow
Published: 4:11PM BST 27 Oct 2010
Spam traditionally accounts for about ninety percent of all email traffic on the Internet Photo: ALAMY
SpamIt.com, a site that paid spammers cash to promote a fake version of anti-impotence drug Viagra, closed down on 27 September after Russian police launched an investigation into its activities.
Internet experts said the number of spam emails sent globally each day has dropped from 250 billion to about 200 billion since the closure. Spam traditionally accounts for about ninety percent of all email traffic on the Internet.
Russian police are now looking for Igor Gusev, a 31-year-old businessman they accuse of being behind the defunct site promoting fake Viagra and have opened a criminal investigation into him, accusing him of operating a pharmacy without a licence and of failing to register a business. A raid on his Moscow flat on Tuesday allegedly yielded seven removable hard drives, three laptops, four flash cards and a batch of pharmaceutical goods from India.
Police said such activities generated hundreds of millions of pounds a year, alleging that Mr Gusev personally benefited to the tune of £1.25 million. Mr Gusev's lawyer said his client had "no relation" to the defunct site and was currently out of the country.
