The World's Worst Spammers
Up to 80% of spam targeted at internet users around the world is generated by a hard-core group of around 100 known persistent spam gangs whose names, aliases and operations are documented in Spamhaus' Register Of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) database.
This TOP 10 chart of ROKSO-listed spammers is based on Spamhaus views of the highest threat, least repentant, most persistent, and generally the worst of the career spammers causing the most damage on the internet currently.
Source: Register Of Known Spam Operations (ROKSO) database + Spamhaus Blocklist (SBL) database. Detailed records on each spammer or spam gang listed can be viewed by clicking on the names.
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| The 10 Worst Spammers |
| As of 01 June 2023 the world's worst spammers and spam gangs are: |
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1
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Canadian Pharmacy - Russian Federation
A long time running pharmacy spam operation. They send tens of millions of spams per day using botnet techniques. Probably based in Eastern Europe, Ukraine/Russia. Host spammed web sites on botnets and on bulletproof Chinese & Russian web hosting. |
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2
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Hosting Response / Michael Boehm - United States of America
Snowshoe spam organization that uses large numbers of inexpensive, automated VPS hosting IP addresses and domains in whatever TLD is currently cheapest to send high volumes of spam to extremely dirty, scraped lists. Operates under many business and individual names. Owner or manager of these companies seems to be Michael Boehm and Associates. |
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3
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PredictLabs / Sphere Digital - United States of America
This operation uses dozens of "hosting" companies as fronts to lease IP addresses which are then used to send spam. Based in Chicago, Illinois and Tangier, Morocco. |
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4
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Michael Persaud - United States of America
Long time snowshoe type spammer, raided by FBI then indicted in 2017 on federal wire fraud charges tied to his spamming operations. |
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5
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RetroCubes - United States of America
Web development, application development, and business training company that spams email appended lists, usually through ESPs that offer automated provisioning and services directed at small businesses. |
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6
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Kobeni Solutions - United States of America
High volume snowshoe spam operation based in Florida. The manager or owner of the company seems to be a Yair Shalev / . (Former?) partner-in-spam of ROKSO spammer Darrin Wohl. Son-in-law of ROKSO-listed spammer Dan Abramovich. Sued for fraud by the US FTC in 2014. |
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7
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RR Media - United States of America
A high volume spam operation based in or run from Huntington Beach, CA, USA. The operation uses a variety of different names. |
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8
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OMICS - India
OMICS is a publisher of "open-access" journals (aka a "predatory publisher") that spams scraped, purchased or appended lists. It does this to solicit contributions to its journals and (by implication) fees and/subscriptions.
OMICS operates under a number of business names. It also uses a very large number of names for its journals. Most of these journal names closely resemble the name of a journal that is widely respected in the academic community.
These similarly-named journals have deceived a number of spam recipients into submitting work to what they believe is a respected academic journal. |
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9
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Maili.ee - Estonia
Estonian B2B spammer for hire that spams mostly people in the Baltics and surrounding countries. The main company domain is "maili.ee". This spam entity is currently doing business as "Alfa Company Services OÜ", but the company name changes every few months. This operation is owned or managed by an individual who has in the past used the alias "Mihail Fortis" in domain registration records. Obtains service on VPS and cloud hosting providers using a large number of borrowed or forged identities. |
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10
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SyedsMarketing - Pakistan
Pakistan-based bulk email marketing company that spams opt-out lists of email addresses through purpose-created Google Groups. Businesses that use SyedsMarketing services are generally based in Pakistan, although some have been based in Middle Eastern countries as well. |
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