Elusive Spammer Sends EarthLink on Long Chase describes how Earthlink eventually tracked down the “Buffalo Spammer”:
As a spammer, Mr. Carmack, who is 36, covered his tracks well, EarthLink contends in the suit. None of the phone numbers listed in the spams he is alleged to have sent are listed in his name. One was in his mother’s name. Another in the name of his mentally handicapped brother who lived in a nearby assisted-living home.His post-office box was listed in the name of a cousin who lives around the corner. Other phone numbers were listed in the name of a North Dakota man who had never been to Buffalo and in the name of a former upstairs tenant who had since moved away.
In addition, each of the 343 EarthLink accounts created by Mr. Carmack used false identities and stolen credit-card or bank-account information, the company’s lawsuit contends.
At this point, Mr. Carmack sounds cunning, if repulsive. Then things just get sad:
Mr. Carmack is a body-builder and was a high-school football star, according to his uncle, Joseph. Relatives and neighbors say Mr. Carmack lives with his mother in a run-down neighborhood of Buffalo, near the state-university campus, in a modest brick house with sky-blue linoleum siding. When a reporter recently rang the bell, a woman inside wouldn’t open the door.