Security threats Toolkit

AOL phisher faces 101 years in jail

Tags:
Phishing

Joris Evers CNET News.com

Published: 17 Jan 2007 10:00 GMT

A California man faces up to 101 years in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of sending out email scams as well as related crimes.

Jeffrey Brett Goodin, 45, of Azusa, was convicted Friday on multiple counts by a jury in the US District Court for Central District of California in Los Angeles, the US Attorney's Office said in a statement.

Goodin, who was arrested last year, was found guilty of operating a sophisticated phishing scheme, the prosecutors said in the statement. As part of the scam, he sent emails posing as AOL's billing department to trick people into giving up their credit card information, according to the statement. He then used the credit card data to make purchases, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

To run the scam, Goodin used several hacked EarthLink accounts to send emails to AOL customers, prosecutors said. The messages urged recipients to update their AOL billing information or lose service and referred them to fraudulent web pages created to collect credit card information, the US Attorney's Office said.

Phishing is a prevalent online threat. Perpetrators have proven hard to catch since they often hide behind hacked computers and servers.

The Goodin conviction is the first by a jury under the Can-Spam Act of 2003, according to the US Attorney's Office. Goodin was convicted on multiple counts in addition to the Can-Spam conviction, including wire fraud, unauthorised use of credit cards, misuse of the AOL trademark and attempted witness harassment, prosecutors said.

Goodin is scheduled to be sentenced on 11 June.