US loses ‘Spam King' crown to India this year

April 27, 2012

Dubai, April 27: The United States has lost its crown as the "Spam King" to India in the first quarter of the year, security firm Sophos said in a report.

"The volume of email spam that originated from India exceeded the volume coming from the US and transformed the Asian country into the world's top spam source," Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, said in its latest Dirty Dozen report.

“ The volume of email spam that originated from India exceeded the volume coming from the US and transformed the Asian country into the world's top spam source”

Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos

The US, which has been the traditional leader of the list, came in second after India followed by South Korea with Indonesia in third place along with Russia.

Mumbai-based internet security specialist Vijay Mukhi said spammers could act with impunity due to poor enforcement of laws.

"We have an Information Technology Act that was introduced in 2000. But we don't have any convictions under it and it's silent on spam," he told Gulf News.

Though India has laws aimed at tackling cybercrime, he said many internet users feel it is not used effectively. Even when arrests are made, very few people are actually convicted.

Free rein

He said police had arrested six Nigerian nationals suspected of defrauding hundreds of people using text message and email scams in January. Scam victims were duped after being told they had won a lottery.

Darya Gudhova, a spam analyst at Kaspersky, a company which designs anti-virus software, said a lack of security awareness had given spammers free rein. She said there was a growing level of cybercrime activity in developing regions such as Asia and Latin America.

Sophos' Cluley said the vast majority of spam was sent by computers infected with some type of malware. He added: "If you have a spam in your inbox, there's an almost one in ten chance that it was relayed from an Indian computer."

He said the overall throughput of global email spam messages had decreased during the first three months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.

This is because of anti-spam actions taken by ISPs, but also because spammers have started favouring social networks.

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Pak jail authorities say Imran Khan is alive and healthy after ‘murder’ rumours spark panic

News Network

November 27,2025

Authorities at Pakistan’s high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Wednesday dismissed speculation about the condition of imprisoned former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, rejecting rumours that he had been moved out of the facility or was in danger. Officials said Khan was in “good health” and described the viral death claims as “baseless.”

“There is no truth to reports about his transfer from Adiala Jail,” the Rawalpindi prison administration said in a statement, according to Geo News. “He is fully healthy and receiving complete medical attention.”

Amid swirling rumours on social media, Imran Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), urged the federal government to issue an official clarification and demanded that authorities allow his family to meet him immediately, Dawn reported.

The frenzy began after Khan’s three sisters called for an impartial probe into what they described as a “brutal” police assault on them and other PTI supporters outside Adiala Jail last week. Soon after, several social media handles circulated unverified claims alleging that Khan had been “killed” inside the prison.

The rumours intensified when a handle named “Afghanistan Times” claimed that “credible sources” had confirmed Khan’s “murder” and that his body had been moved out of the jail — allegations that have not been verified by any credible agency.

Imran Khan, PTI’s patron-in-chief, has been lodged in the Rawalpindi prison since August 2023 in multiple cases. For over a month, an undeclared restriction has prevented family members and senior PTI leaders from meeting him. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has reportedly been denied access despite making seven attempts.

In a letter to Punjab Police Chief Usman Anwar, Khan’s sisters — Noreen Niazi, Aleema Khan, and Dr. Uzma Khan — said they were “peacefully protesting” outside the jail when police allegedly launched an unprovoked assault after streetlights were switched off.

“At 71, I was seized by my hair, thrown to the ground and dragged across the road,” Noreen Niazi said, alleging that other women present were also slapped and manhandled.

Adiala Jail officials reiterated that speculation over Imran Khan’s health was unfounded and insisted that his well-being was being ensured, Geo News reported.

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