A victory over e-fraud

Chicago Tribune: Virginia is attempting to make an example out of a brother and sister convicted in the first felony prosecution of Internet spam distributors. Jeremy Jaynes faces up to nine years in prison, and Jessica DeGroot has been slapped with a $7,500 fine.
Prosecutors said the siblings tapped the Internet to hawk bogus stock investments, cheap drugs and other come-ons, used phony return addresses -- and raked in more than $24 million. They will be sentenced in February. A third defendant was acquitted.
Virginia's spam law, considered the toughest in the nation, makes it a felony to send large amounts of fraudulent e-mail. State prosecutors believe the case will go a long way toward stopping bogus Internet pitches.
As a new tool against fraud, the Virginia law has merit. It's a stretch, though, to think this case or prosecutions under federal anti-spam law will significantly cut down on junk e-mail or its bad-boy cousin, the Internet scam.
The federal law bars individuals and companies from masking their identities when they send bulk e-mail. But legitimate operators still may send bulk e-mails -- as long as they take recipients off their lists when asked to do so.
Quick buck
Unscrupulous operators will still be tempted to make a quick buck through an Internet scheme -- the payoffs simply are too rich, with little perceived risk. Spammers are pros when it comes to hiding themselves, often hacking into computers and routing their electronic pitches through them. If state and federal laws do prove to be effective, it's likely that scam mail will still originate from beyond U.S. borders.
High-profile prosecutions of bogus Internet schemes will make aggressive spammers be more creative about protecting themselves. But the best way to stop spam is for consumers to hit the delete key.