Victims were charged $US9.99 a month even if they ignored or deleted the messages. Michael Pearse, a 52-year-old Australian national, and Yongchao Liu, a 33-year-old Chinese national, are being detained after making initial appearances on Tuesday in Manhattan federal court. Pearse and Liu were charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, and Pearse was also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors said Pearse was the chief executive and Liu was a Java development engineer for a company called Bullroarer. According to court papers, Bullroarer was affiliated with Tatto Inc, a company that purchased large numbers of mobile phone numbers to target with messages.

Source: Otago Daily Times January 27, 2021 00:22 UTC