This week a federal grand jury indicted 11 men in an international spam and stock fraud scheme. The 41 count indictment names Michigan resident Alan Ralsky and 10 other men. They are accused of running a spamming operation consisting of promotions for Chinese penny stocks, also known as "pump and dump". The people that unwittingly fell for the scam drove up the stock price, allowing the men to reap the profits when they sold the artificially inflated stocks.



Officials say the group used several illegal methods to get around spam filters and trick people into opening and acting on the spam. The indictment came after a 3 year investigation and it's estimated that the group earned $3 million over the summer of 2005 alone from the operation.

"Today's charges seek to knock out one of the largest illegal spamming and fraud operations in the country, an international scheme to make money by manipulating stock prices through illegal spam e-mail promotions," U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy said in a statement.

Ralsky's attorney told the Detroit Free Press that Ralsky was in Europe but would voluntarily turn himself in to federal authorities.

"Mr. Ralsky intends to fight these charges, which are brought under a new federal statute that has not been interpreted by the courts," Kushner told the paper.

Prosecutors claim Ralsky is one of the largest spammers in the U.S.