FBI and FTC Arrest Fake Drug Spammer

FBI agents arrested Oleg Nikolaenko as the alleged mastermind behind the Mega-D botnet, that promoted counterfeit materials online, and was used, to “deceptively [market] and [sell] counterfeit herbal ‘male enhancement’ pills and generic prescription drugs that were falsely advertised as FDA-approved.”

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents disclosed last week that they had arrested Oleg Nikolaenko, a 23-year old Moscow resident, as the alleged mastermind behind the Mega-D botnet, a spam disperser that promoted counterfeit materials, and was used, according to the sworn affidavit of an FBI agent, to “deceptively [market] and [sell] counterfeit herbal ‘male enhancement’ pills and generic prescription drugs that were falsely advertised as FDA-approved,” reports Information Week.

Agents from the FBI and Federal Trade Commission had been following Nikolaenko since 2007, according to the Journal Sentinel, and arrested him November 4 while visiting the Las Vegas auto show. On November 16, he was indicted on one charge of violating the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act. A grand jury probe has targeted him for additional violations of mail and wire fraud statues, reports Information Week.

A subpoena of Nikolaenko’s Gmail account revealed evidence of malware similar to Mega-D, and then additional evidence was collected through informants, also alleged purveyors of counterfeit goods, Jody Smith and Lance Atkinson, who gave detailed accounts of their business relationship to the Nikolaenko. According to The Smoking Gun, Mega-D was capable of sending ten billion spams a day and was responsible for nearly a third of spam until it was crippled by security experts in 2009.

Nikolaenko will appear in Milwaukee Federal court on Friday.