question about email spam

[FuSoYa]

two-part question actually.

1) To find the spammers, why don't the authorities just act like they're going to buy the product being offered and then just trace it through the resulting postage and / or paper-trail?

2) If they can't do this because the ads are fraudulent and no actual product is being offered, then why does the spam exist in the first place, if not to sell a product?

 

[xfer]

no time, no money.

 

[minxnim]

you'd think someplace like AOL would have the money and time.
i always wondered this too. it's nuts.

 

[avi]

well, microsoft announced today it's suing some of the perps and AOL has tried to hunt them in the past too.

 

[FuSoYa]

i'm just saying it seems like it would be really easy to find the perps.

 

[minxnim]

sayin'

 

[lizard]

kinda a non sequitur but Orrin Hatch sez he wants to create something by which if you download music from the web, your hard drive will be remotely destroyed.