The murder of Russia’s biggest spammer Vardan Kushnir was not connected with his Internet activity, but with a straightforward robbery, Moscow investigators reported.
Kushnir, 35, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head. Investigators, quoted by the Kommersant newspaper, said this was not a contract murder or revenge for spamming. “Things are simpler. He became a victim of clonidine. For now, this is the only theory.”
At the scene, investigators discovered soporific, a sleep inducer, in a glass and a woman’s dressing gown and blouse. Apparently, the spammer had met three girls in a club called the Hungry Duck, and invited them to his apartment. The girls then poured soporific into his wine, but it is suppected that the dose was insufficient, and that Kushnir woke up when the girls’ accomplices arrived to rob his house. During the ensuing scuffle, he was killed. The robbers took his credit cards, laptop, digital video camera, gold and money. On Monday, police detained one of the suspected girls.
Kushnir headed the English learning centers, which included the Center for American English, the New York English Center and the Center for Spoken English, all known to have extremely aggressive Internet advertising policies which featured sending millions of e-mails every day.
In the past angry Internet users had retaliated against the American English centre by publishing the Center’s telephone numbers extensively throughout the Web to provoke telephone calls. The Center’s telephone was advertised as a contact number for cheap sex services, or bargain real estate sales. Another tactic involved hundreds of people making phone calls to the American English Center and sending it numerous e-mails. Nevertheless, Vardan Kushnir remained confident of his right to spam, saying it was what e-mails were for.
Center for Spoken English officials declined to comment on the news of Kushnir’s murder.
Under Russian law, spamming is not considered illegal, although lawmakers are working on projects that could protect Russian Internet users in ways similar to the U.S. and Europe. |