Alan Ralsky


Alan Ralsky is a convicted American fraudster, best known for his activities as a spammer.

Spamming

Ralsky was one of the most prolific sources of junk e-mail worldwide. Unlike most spammers, he has provided interviews to various newspapers, although he claimed to be a commercial e-mailer rather than a spammer. He claimed that his was a legitimate business which complied with all laws, but was convicted of spamming and other fraudulent activities in June 2009.
Ralsky apparently began his spamming career in 1996, when his licenses to sell insurance were revoked in Michigan and Illinois.
He gained much of his notoriety following a December 2002 interview with The Detroit News. The article was soon posted to Slashdot and the address of his newly built home was posted to Slashdot not long after that. Hundreds of Slashdot readers then searched the Internet for advertising mailing lists and free catalogs and signed him up for them. As a result, he was flooded with junk mail. In a Detroit Free Press article on December 6, 2002, he is quoted as saying, "They've signed me up for every advertising campaign and mailing list there is. These people are out of their minds. They're harassing me."

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