No place can spam like South Florida

Found on Sun-Sentinel on Saturday, 07 May 2005
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More than a quarter of about 180 hardcore spammers tracked by watchdog group Spamhaus are based in Florida, and most of those are in the tri-county area. The city with the most spammers in the world is Boca Raton.

South Florida is so notorious that some experts attributed a short-term decline in global spam after last year's hurricanes to the assumption that the storms disrupted spammers' operations.

And the FBI's North Miami office receives so many fraud complaints that only major cases get the bureau's attention. "If you come in with a $1 million case, we'll put you in line with all the others," said LeVord Burns, supervisory special agent.

Because spammers often route their e-mails through hosts overseas, spam is difficult to trace. So to solve cases, investigators usually follow the money trail.

Though many spammers operate legally, law enforcement officials are concerned that some South Florida spammers will use e-mail to rip people off, given the area's history as a scam capital.

It should be easier to follow the money, instead of trying to track the spam message itself. Hit the spammers where it hurts most: freeze their accounts.