Threat Management, Email security

Guilty plea entered by Adconion execs in widespread email spam campaigns

Three of four current or former Adconion Direct executives namely Jacob Bychak, Mark Manoogian, Mohammed Abdul Qayyum have entered a guilty plea to charges of email fraud and misrepresentation, reports KrebsOnSecurity. Bychak, Manoogian, Qayyum, and Petr Pacas had been charged in 2018 for conspiracy to determine inactive Internet Protocol addresses that had been registered to others, as well as communicate with an Internet hosting firm with forged letters claiming being authorized by the inactive IP address registrants between December 2010 and September 2014, for which they had pleaded not guilty. "The defendants jobs with Adconion were to acquire fresh IP addresses and employ other measures to circumvent the spam filters. To conceal Adconions ties to the stolen IP addresses and the spam sent from these IP addresses, the defendants used a host of DBAs, virtual addresses, and fake names provided by the company," said a statement from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. While the three defendants' plea deals have not been detailed, Pacas' deferred prosecution deal would require him to donate $50,000 to a federal "crime victims fund" while undergoing probation.

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.