Dateline tracks down a porn spammer

A face behind the anonymous spammer
Tracing these pictures back to the guy who sent them has been a series of dead ends and chilly receptions. But now, we think we may have him. His name?  Jean Yves Cotes.

We get his phone number, and I leave a message saying I want to talk to him about a business proposal.

He thinks we’re in town to talk about the Internet porn business. Later, he calls me back at the hotel and agrees to have lunch. Yves Cote shows up, along with a business partner.

Remember, he thinks we’re here to discuss a business proposition, so we start by talking business. Right off the bat he admits he’s in the business of trying to sell porn by e-mailing millions of people. And he’s happy to tell us we can send porn to millions of people too — simply by purchasing lists of e-mail addresses.

Yves Cote: The people sell the lists on the market.

Hockenberry: And you buy them?

Jean Yves Cote: So can you. (laughs)

Hockenberry: I can?

Jean Yves Cote: Sure.

A list with a couple of million names is considered tiny by Internet standards.

Yves Cote: It’s a small list.

Hockenberry: A small list is 2 million?

Yves Cote: Uh, huh.

Hockenberry: Oh ,for heaven’s sake.

The lists are easy to come by. Some spammers have even developed software that trolls the Internet for e-mail addresses. Somehow Julie’s name ended up on one of those lists. 

We show him that image that appeared on Julie’s computer in Texas. It’s return to sender time.

At first, a denial.

Yves Cote: I didn’t send ... okay?

Hockenberry: How do you know if somebody like, wants this...

We know he’s the spammer because the owners of "Spunkfarm" told us they’d identified him through his salesman ID code.

Now he’s wondering about the real reason for our meeting.

Yves-Cote: Can you tell me something?

Hockenberry: Yup, sure.

Yves Cote: Why we have lunch? To speak about the site or to speak about business?

We show him a picture of Julie.

Hockenberry: Her name’s Julie. She’s a housewife, freelance student, lives in Texas.

Then we show him the unsolicited porn the people at "Spunkfarm" said he delivered.

Hockenberry: The "Spunkfarm" e-mail.

Yves Cote (to Daniel): Okay. We are not here for business.         

Hockenberry: Did you know know that you sent it to her?

Yves Cote: I don’t know.

Hockenberry: We know that you did, actually.

We tell him how we traced the porn, layer by layer. He gets up to leave.

Hockenberry: What do you have to say? Oh, one last question. Let’s just forget about all that.  How about I make you a television star, okay? And you could just tell me what you want to say to this woman who you sent this e-mail to? Do you care?

Yves Cote: Are you sure it’s me?

Hockenberry: Oh, yeah.

Yves Cote: Do you have proof?

Hockenberry: Oh yeah.

We show him the letter we got from the "Spunkfarm" people.

Hockenberry: Here’s your address. There’s your name.

Yves Cote: And my cell. Okay.

Hockenberry: Do you care about the fact that this woman received this e-mail? 

Yves Cote: If I did that, what can I do now?

Hockenberry: Let me think for a minute. Let’s see: Say you’re sorry. 

Yves Cote: Yes, I can do it, if I did that, yes. I’m sorry.

He says Julie’s name should not have been on one of those lists he purchased, lists of people supposedly interested in porn.

Hockenberry: Would you take a picture like this, "Spunkfarm" here, and just walk up to some house in the neighborhood, and just, ring the doorbell, and say, ‘Here. Thought you’d like to have it?’

Yves Cote: This picture?

Hockenberry: Would you do that?

Yves Cote: For me? No.

He says we’ve got him all wrong—

Yves Cote: I am not a bad boy. I can tell you. I’m not bad.

He tells us he’s out of the business and won't spam porn e-mails anymore.

Yves Cote: For me, in my head, it’s finished. Because it is not finished for the girl. If you want, I call this girl, I say, “I’m sorry, I will do it.”

He offers to apologize. We try Julie’s cellphone.

Hockenberry (on the phone): Hello, Julie? Hi, it’s John Hockenberry. How are you? Um - do you have a couple of minutes? Uh, the uh, I remember when we spoke to you last, you said that there’s just absolutely no possibility we’d be able to find the person that sent you that e-mail. Um. Well, I’m sitting with him right now.

Yves Cote (on the phone): Julie? OK. I think you want to speak to me? Yes.

Yves Cote (on the phone): Listen Julie—We don’t do this anymore, okay? And really sorry about that.  Okay? I have a young girl, too. And I don’t want... this can can happen to her too. Okay? Sorry, Julie. Thanks.

Then he left. As for Julie, she was suprised we found her spammer.

"I’m really shocked that you found him," says Julie. "I really didn’t know what to say...  to put a human face to something that’s very vulgar."

Although spam expert Ray Everett Church never thought we’d find the spammer, he did predict how he’d behave if we did.

"I think many spammers, once they see the kind of damage they do, some of them may feel sorry. Some of them may get a sense of how much pain they cause people," says Everett Church. "I’ve seen some spammers who’ve said, 'You know, I didn’t really realize how bad my business was until it sort of came back to bite me.' And they have learned their lesson."

But there are many more spammers out there —  spammers who don’t appear to be the slightest bit sorry for sending porn e-mails.

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