Reformed spammer says he made up to $15,000 per week

Only a tiny fraction of internet users respond to spam email messages promising miracle drugs, hot dates, or the ability to enlarge various anatomical parts. But spam is still a profitable industry. One former spammer who goes by the name of Spammer-X says he made $480,000 during his last year as a spam artist.

He worked hard for his money, spending ten hours a day, seven days a week devising new ways to send messages that would get past spam filters.

Of course, no spammer exists in a vacuum. He made his money for referring customers to actual businesses selling actual products (of dubious merit). Not that we'd recommend giving the guy more money, but he's written a book about his experiences, which he says has become popular with law enforcement types.

Why did he get out of the business? Telling people what he did for a living was getting uncomfortable, as was the amount of cash he had lying around the apartment in stacks of $20 bills. He was paid primarily in electronic funds through services like PayPal and e-gold, from which he withdrew the money as cash.

Tags: spam, spammer, spammer-x