Thomas Dorsher
FARGO (KFGO) – An Oakes, North Dakota man has been taken into custody by the FBI and charged in federal court with five crimes involving computer fraud and abuse, extortion, and harassment.
50-year-old Thomas Dorsher, also known as Scammerblaster, faces a maximum of 32 years in prison and over $1 million in fines for his role in a conspiracy to levy threats at and launch computerized attacks on three Utah-based companies with the goal of overwhelming and disabling their servers and phone lines.
The indictment, which was filed in Utah, says Dorsher and another man, Ehtosham Javed, issued threats and payment demands to the targeted companies. The men are also alleged to have harassed and doxxed employees of the targeted companies. Doxxing is the practice of publicly identifying or publishing private information about someone as a form of punishment or revenge.
The indictment claims Dorsher ran the criminal operation out of his basement in Oakes.
Dorsher was arrested in Oakes Friday morning. During his initial appearance at the federal courthouse in Fargo, he called the charges against him “bogus.” Dorsher will remain in custody until at least Tuesday, when a detention hearing is scheduled.
In July of this year, the FCC proposed an over $116 million fine against Dorsher in a related and complex robocall “traffic-pumping” scheme.
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