Spamming is the use of messaging systems to send multiple unsolicited messages (spam) to large numbers of recipients for the purpose of commercial advertising, for the purpose of non-commercial proselytizing, for any prohibited purpose, or simply repeatedly sending the same message to the same user. While the most widely recognized form of spam is email spam, the term is applied to similar abuses in other media: instant messaging spam, Usenet newsgroup spam, Web search engine spam, spam in blogs, wiki spam, online classified ads spam, mobile phone messaging spam, Internet forum spam, junk fax transmissions, social spam, spam mobile apps, television advertising and file sharing spam. It is named after Spam, a luncheon meat, by way of a Monty Python sketch about a restaurant that has Spam in almost every dish in which Vikings annoyingly sing "Spam" repeatedly.
Alan Ralsky was a convicted American fraudster, best known for his activities as a spammer.
David "Coondog" O'Karma is a competitive eating champion, entertainer, and writer from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. He was formerly a member of the IFOCE, but is now the director of a Competitive Eating organization called the Association of Independent Competitive Eaters (AICE).
Gutbusters is a 2002 Discovery Channel documentary following the efforts of three competitive eaters seeking to gain entry into the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest.
Christopher William Smith ("Rizler") was a prolific e-mail spammer, and sold drugs online from his illegal Xpress Pharmacy Direct in Burnsville, Minnesota, United States. He was released from prison on October 13, 2020.
Major League Eating (MLE) is an organization that oversees professional competitive eating events and television specials. MLE's stated mission is to maintain a safe environment for all events, to create a dynamic and enjoyable fan experience, and to help sponsors develop, publicize and execute eating events in a wide variety of food disciplines. The league airs its annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest on ESPN.
The Federal Correctional Institution, Loretto is a low-security United States federal prison for male inmates in Pennsylvania. An adjacent satellite prison camp houses minimum-security male offenders. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
Nicholas Cosmo is an American former businessman and white-collar criminal. He was arrested January 26, 2009 on charges of an estimated $370–413 million Ponzi scheme. Cosmo conducted the scheme using his company Agape World Inc. in Hauppauge, New York, which claimed to make its profits via commercial bridge lending. Authorities arrested him in Hicksville, New York.
The history of email spam reaches back to the mid-1990s when commercial use of the internet first became possible - and marketers and publicists began to test what was possible.
Corruption in Illinois has been a problem from the earliest history of the state. Electoral fraud in Illinois pre-dates the territory's admission to the Union in 1818. Illinois had the third most federal criminal convictions for public corruption between 1976 and 2012, behind New York and California. A study published by the University of Illinois Chicago in 2022 ranked Illinois as the second most corrupt state in the nation, with 4 out of the last 11 governors serving time in prison.
Allen Howard Weisselberg is an American businessman and convicted felon who was the chief financial officer (CFO) of the Trump Organization. Weisselberg served as a co-trustee of a trust set up in 2017 by Donald Trump before Trump's inauguration as president of the United States. In 2022, Weisselberg pleaded guilty to 15 criminal charges including grand larceny, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. In January 2023, he began serving a five-month jail sentence and was released the following April.
Peter Levashov is a Russian spammer and virus creator. He was described by The Spamhaus Project as one of the longest functioning criminal spam operators on the internet. In July 2021, a US federal judge overruled government recommendations for a 12 to 14.5 year prison sentence, giving a sentence instead of time served, with three years of supervision. Levashov remains in the US, having started a business called SeveraDAO.
Graham John Philip is a New Zealand conspiracy theorist and convicted criminal. He was the first person in New Zealand history charged with sabotage, after he attacked New Zealand's electrical grid in an attempt to cut power to the entire North Island in 2021.
