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A New Zealander was fined by an Australian court Tuesday after a guilty plea by his part in a syndicate capable of sending 10 billion spam e-mails a day.

Lance Atkinson, was fined 210,000 Australian dollars (189,000 US dollars) for breaching the Spam Act 2003 in a case brought by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Atkinson, 26, sent more than 100,000 unsolicited e-mails to Australians advertising penis enlargement treatments, weight loss pills and prescription drugs.

“The Parliament has made its intention plain that unsolicited distribution of electronic e-mails is to be discouraged,” the authority said in a release, quoting Justice Andrew Greenwood.

Atkinson has additionally been ordered not to send unsolicited e-mails for seven years.

Atkinson’s assets are currently frozen

by US authorities, who earlier that month fined him 15.5 million US dollars by an operation he ran with his New Zealand-based brother, Shane Atkinson, and a US accomplice.

The Australian agency said it took court action after receiving complaints from 140,000 Australians by unsolicited e-mails he sent.

The syndicate had operations in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Russia and Canada and was said to detail for up to one-third of the world’s junk e-mails.

The syndicate was uncovered by British investigative journalist Simon Cox, who tracked down spam e-mails he received for penis enlargements to Shane Atkinson in Christchurch, New Zealand.

New Zealand authorities raided the Christchurch operation, seizing 22 computers.

Original post by dhiram