The 25-year-old’s spamming came to the attention of authorities after an ISP complained of his massive mailings. His activities reportedly began in May 2006. Security vendor Sophos said Shiina acquired a list of 600,000 email addresses for 100,000 yen and earned 2 million yen in advertising for his spamming.

In sending out the junk mail with forged sender addresses, Shiina broke a law specifically banning that practice, according to Japan Today. "The suspect told police he didn’t think he would be arrested," Japan Today said. Commentary in response to the Japan Today story found no sympathy for Shiina. Suggestions ranging from heavy fines and jail time to hanging and populated the comments. Japan Nails Massive Spammer