Indian-origin man charged in fraud case

An Indian-origin man who allegedly sent over 1 million spam emails and damaged several computer networks has been charged with fraud, according to the Chicago federal prosecutor.

Using "snowshoe spamming" technique, Michael Persaud used several internet addresses and domains to transmit the spam emails over at least nine networks, said Federal Prosecutor Zachary T. Fardon on Tuesday.

Persaud sent the spam emails to people in the US and abroad on behalf of sellers of various goods and services, charging a commission for each sale the spams produced, the prosecution said.

When the internet service providers found out he was using their servers for the massive spam campaign, they cut him off for violating the conditions of service.

Persaud then created false identities and fake documents to register new internet addresses to carry on spamming, the prosecution added.

He was also accused of illegally selling millions of email addresses to others for spamming.

He was arrested in January in Arizona and produced before Federal Magistrate Judge Susan E. Cox in Chicago on Tuesday. Persaud has denied the charges.