Reformed spammer says he made up to $15,000 per week

by Brad Linder Jul 20th 2007

Only a tiny fraction of internet users respond to spam email messages promising miracle drugs, hot dates, or the ability to enlarge various anatomical parts. But spam is still a profitable industry. One former spammer who goes by the name of Spammer-X says he made $480,000 during his last year as a spam artist.

He worked hard for his money, spending ten hours a day, seven days a week devising new ways to send messages that would get past spam filters.

Of course, no spammer exists in a vacuum. He made his money for referring customers to actual businesses selling actual products (of dubious merit). Not that we'd recommend giving the guy more money, but he's written a book about his experiences, which he says has become popular with law enforcement types.

Why did he get out of the business? Telling people what he did for a living was getting uncomfortable, as was the amount of cash he had lying around the apartment in stacks of $20 bills. He was paid primarily in electronic funds through services like PayPal and e-gold, from which he withdrew the money as cash.

Tags: spam, spammer, spammer-x

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Monoto said 6:07PM on 7-20-2007

I can understand that telling people that you send spam for a living might be a bit uncomfortable, but that was his own fault. As for feeling awkward about having piles of cash all over his apartment? Yeah, also his fault.

Ryan Wagner said 8:30PM on 7-20-2007

I'm sure that it would be an interesting job...and probably one of the few jobs where nearly everyone in the world hates you. I would ask how the guy sleeps at night, but apparently it is on a stack of $20 bills. ;)

rickster said 9:29PM on 7-20-2007

That book is from 2004.... slow news day?

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