Spam king lives large off others' e-mail troubles

The Detroit Freepress ^ | November 22, 2002 | Mike Wendland

[cebadams]

You might call it the house that spam built.

Alan Ralsky's brand new 8,000-square-foot luxury home near Halsted and Maple in West Bloomfield has been a busy place this month. Outside, landscapers worked against the November cold to get a sprinkler system installed before the ground freezes. Inside, painters prepared to hang wallpaper.

[tacticalogic]

If there was any justice in this world, spammers would be chained to an oar.

The big end.

[agrace]

I think the author is doing his best to make that as easy as possible. :)

Alan Ralsky's brand new 8,000-square-foot luxury home near Halsted and Maple in West Bloomfield has been a busy place this month.

Meanwhile, delivery trucks pulled into the bricked circular driveway with computers, routers, servers and other high-tech gear that will hook up to the high-speed T1 line installed a few weeks ago.

Today, Ralsky says he is trying to keep a lower profile, operating through cell phones and unlisted numbers. Ralsky agreed to this interview and the tour of his operation only if I promised not to print the address of his new home, which I found in Oakland County real estate records.

Shouldn't be too hard for locals to determine a house number.

[BJungNan]

My gosh, where is this guy, let me at him!

[BJungNan]

Spam Queen Laura Betterly - Now you have a phone number to people responsible for clogging your mailbox. Try calling to complain and see what you get. See Article here

727 736 2799

Be careful, they will hang up on you. QUite abusive.

[cebadams]

John T. Greilick / The Detroit News

Alan Ralsky calls himself a commercial e-mailer, not a spammer.

[DAnconia55]

Go Alan!!!!

[cebadams]

Not hard to find... if i were him I would have a private number --- posted here:
http://news.spamcop.net/pipermail/spamcop-list/2002-August/011253.html


Ralsky in MI
3 people found (1-3 shown)

Ralsky, Alan M
5016 Patrick Rd,
West Bloomfield, MI 48322-1543
(248)661-3355

Ralsky, Alan M
5016 Patrick Rd,
West Bloomfield, MI 48322-1543
(248)661-5166

Ralsky, Renee
5016 Patrick Rd,
West Bloomfield, MI 48322-1543
(248)661-5656

[agrace]

HAHAHAHA, that is too funny.

[hunter112]

What makes the TV commercials (and bulk junk "snail" mail) more legitimate than bulk email??

TV and radio commercials, advertisements in magazines and newspapers, and even banner ads in websites pay for the content produced, that I am able to consume for a minimal payment. It would cost me much more for the shows I watch, or the printed materials I read, if it were not for advertising.

Spam doesn't provide any benefits to anyone except the spammer. It steals time from consumers, and employers, and steals bandwidth and server storage capacity from ISPs who transmit it to their customers. The only fair comparison I can make is junk mail, since my 37 cent stamp to mail off my bill payments subsidize this bulk mail. Of course, that is a "tax" issue, and I have the choice to vote for people who would cause junk mail to pay its own way.

At least with junk mail, there is some substantial cost to the sender, with spam, nearly 100% of the cost is borne by others. This is fundamentally theft and trespassing!

[MEGoody]

"It's interesting to see people get fired up about this, yet they'll allow "unsolicted" commercials to bombard them while they watch TV. Nobody seems to get upset about that."

Whaddaya mean? TV commercials are the time I go to the bathroom, visit the kitchen for a snack, make a quick phone call or whatever. The commercial just plays on whether I'm there or not, and then it's over with. Spam fills up your e-mail box. If you don't sit down at least occasionally and delete them, you'll never get real mail. Thus it takes up my TIME!

[Vicki]

Thanks, my husband is looking into something that sounds like what your describing.

[Vicki]

I really need to have an email address on my websites so customers can contact me. I did have a guestbook but the spammers filled it up with their promotions. I do appreciate your suggestions.

[cebadams]

I use sneakemail.com
http://sneakemail.com

You sign up (it's free for basic service). Sign up requires that you provide a valid email address. The idea is that you have sneakemail create as many email accounts as you want (I use a different one for anything I sign up for). Any email addressed to one of these sneakemail accounts gets forwarded to your real email account but you are able to tell from which sneakemail account it came from. Then, when you start getting spam you know were it came from and you can delete that particular sneakemail address.

See the web site for additional info. I have been using it for a few years and have never had a problem.

[Vicki]

They spammed my guestbook and they even were able to post to my Links page after I took the submit form down. Thanks for the suggestons anyways.

[BJungNan]

I think the ultimate revenge would be to find this guy's address and phone number, and email it to every email address that can be found. It's only fair.

your not the only one thinking this.
Chris and Jim Radio Show
message board

[AppyPappy]

I bet you get more spam in your email than your guestbook. We use a comments page that sends me an email when someone adds an entry. I've never been spammed on it because I am the only one who can see it.

[martin gibson]

You left off the "l".

...got it. Har!!

[suijuris]

By including the opt-out link he gets a list of absolutely valid email addresses. He probably gets paid extra to sent out spam to these 89 million people. Never, never reply in any way to spam.

Thanks for the tip. I've spent a lot of time opting out of the spam e-mails, yet it seems to be getting exponentially worse. I'm not for government control, but I do beleive if you want to unsubscribe, it should be for real.

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Oh that's too funny, I lived on Patrick in West Bloomfield in the 8th grade!


Aliases and Addresses
Name: Alan M Ralsky
5016 Patrick Rd. West Bloomfield, MI 48322
248-661-3355

AKA: Jeff Kramer
6567 Long Lake Road
Birmingham, MI 48009 US
Domain Name: cambridgewater.net
Jeff Kramer (COCO-227918) aral54

AKA: Additional Benefits
2121 Richard Ave
W. Bloomfield, MI 48322
248-200-3492

AKA: Creative Marketing Zone Inc
5016 Patrick Rd
West Bloomfield, MI 48322

AKA: Sam Smith (MAILSVC2-DOM)
200 W. Long Lake Drive
Troy, MI 48332 US
Domain Name: MAILSVC.NET
Smith, Sam (SS9752) aral

AKA: William Window (template COCO-265759)
4512 Westside
Royal Oak, Michigan 48098 US
William Window (COCO-265759) aral54
+1 248 544 4314

AKA: Alan Ralsky, (AR1574) aral
Sav-Rx (RXPOINT-DOM)
Domain Name: RXPOINT.COM
9439 N Leamington
Skokie, IL 60077
(847) 677-5516 (FAX) (847) 677-5329

AKA: Alan M Ralsky, (AMR43) amr1
Additonal Benefits
5016 Patrick Drive
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
1-248-661-3355 (FAX) 1-248-661-3054

AKA: AB Internet
528 S. State St. PMB 523
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

(There is no building face with that address on it.
There *is*, however, a building that accepts that
mail - the University of Michigan Student Union,
and the Mailboxes, Etc. that is housed therein.)

AKA: rxpoint.com
5016 Patrick Rd.
West Bloomfield, MI 48322

AKA: MPI Global
5016 Patrick Road
W Bloomfield, MI 48322
(248) 661-3355

AKA: mpiglobal
25514 Graceland
Dearborn Heights, MI 48125US

AKA: Ray Esseily
mpiglobal.com
25514 Graceland Drive
Dearborn Heights , MI 48125
1-313-278-8845

[steve-b]

Someone even left a package of what appeared to be dog feces

And Ralsky shall call it "Mini-Me".