Andy Markley was really looking forward to a work-free Labor Day weekend far away from his computer. But he made the mistake of checking his inbox before he left for his planned holiday. Hundreds of e-mails greeted Markley that Saturday . . .
Andy Markley was really looking forward to a work-free Labor Day weekend far away from his computer. But he made the mistake of checking his inbox before he left for his planned holiday. Hundreds of e-mails greeted Markley that Saturday morning, most of them reporting an undeliverable message sent from his e-mail account. And interspersed with those bounced messages were angry rants accusing Markley of sending out spam offering pharmaceuticals without a prescription.

Markley isn't a spammer, he's a graphic artist. He was the victim of a con artist who sent thousands of spam messages carefully crafted to appear as if they had originated from Markley's domain.

The scam almost cost Markley his business, his reputation, his website and his sanity. His Internet service provider wouldn't help him, despite the fact that his computer and his e-mail account were being overwhelmed by an avalanche of spam-spew that made it impossible to do business or even collect his personal e-mail.

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