Russia Prosecutes Suspected Fake Drug Spammer

The Russian authorities have filed criminal charges against the 31-year-old Russian businessman Igor Gusev, whose company Despmedia has been reportedly sending spam e-mails advertising fake pharmaceuticals to users in the United States, Canada and other countries through an online partner Glavmed.com. The company allegedly made USD 120 million (EUR 89 million) since 2007.

The police raided Gusev’s home on October 26, 2010 and found the documents that may help in locating the Russian businessman, who is believed to have fled Russia. Moscow’s business daily Kommersant reported that the counterfeit medicines he advertised originated in India.

According to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, Gusev might have also been involved in SpamIt.com, a website that paid spammers to promote a fake version of the anti-impotence drug Viagra. After the website closed down on September 27, 2010, the number of spam emails around the world temporarily fell by an estimated 50 billion a day.

There had been no lawsuits filed against spammers in Russia until this case in spite of the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEK) estimates that Russia’s economy lost approximately USD 462 million (EUR 342 million) due to spam last year, while the spammers earned USD 123 million (EUR 91 million) during the same time period.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: RIA Novosti, The Daily Telegraph, Securing Pharma