Davis Wolfgang Hawke

Davis Wolfgang Hawke (1978 - 2017) was a spammer who was sued by AOL in 2004 under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Previously, in 1999 he started two neo-Nazi groups to make the "final solution a reality."[1] He has been dubbed by the press as the "spam Nazi."[2] Hawke was found shot to death as an unknown victim in Squamish in 2017 and identified in October of 2020.[3]

Davis Wolfgang Hawke
Taken September 2005
Born
Andrew Britt Greenbaum

(1978-10-21)October 21, 1978
Rhode Island
DiedJune 2017
Squamish
Cause of deathGunshot
Known forSpammer, neo-Nazi

Biography

Hawke graduated from Westwood High School in 1996.[4] Subsequently, he changed his name from Andrew Britt Greenbaum to Davis Wolfgang Hawke on 1997 after his 18th birthday.[5] He went on to attend Wofford College in South Carolina, completing three years.[2]

Despite his father being Jewish[6] while attending school he was a speaker and leader for two Neo-Nazi groups he started.[7] His success was very limited.[8] Under the pseudonym of "Bo Decker," he began selling Nazi merchandise and offering membership to his internet neo-Nazi group "Knights of Freedom" and later the American Nationalist Party.[9] He dropped out of college and turned his computer skills into spamming following embarrassingly low turnouts, and support for his neo-Nazi groups.[10] Hawke went on to earn thousands of dollars each week spamming email and cell phone numbers.

Hawke is known to be an aficionado of chess. In high school, he achieved a United States Chess Federation rating of nearly 2000.[11] In the late 1990s he played in South Carolina and Tennessee under the pseudonym Walter Smith. He played throughout Colorado as David A. Wallace on and off before disappearing around summer of 2006.

Over the years, Hawke used numerous aliases, even among his closest friends and business associates. During his time as a neo-Nazi, he referred to himself as Bo Decker. As a spammer, he typically went by aliases including Walter Cross, Johnny Durango, and Dave Bridger.[12]

At a chess tournament in 2001, Hawke met Braden (Brad) Bournival, a New Hampshire high school student. Hawke tutored Bournival in the spam business, and, in 2003, they co-founded Amazing Internet Products. The company, which had offices in Manchester, New Hampshire, was responsible for millions of spams for an herbal (Yohimbe) "penis enhancement" product called Pinacle. By the summer of 2003, Amazing Internet Products was grossing around $500,000 per month.[13]

One of Hawke's spam affiliates was Robby Todino, the so-called Time Travel Spammer.[14]

In 2004 AOL won a $12.8-million judgment against Hawke in America Online, Inc. v. Davis Wolfgang Hawke, et al. AOL accused Hawke of violating anti-spam laws by sending unwanted emails to its subscribers and won its case in a default judgment against Hawke.[15]

On August 15, 2006 AOL announced their intention to search for buried precious metals on the property of Hawke's parents in Medfield, Massachusetts. Hawke had previously claimed to have converted assets into precious metals and buried them.[16] In 2007 AOL decided against the dig to search for the gold Hawke bragged about when he earned an estimated $600,000 for spamming ads for penis enlargement pills.[17] Hawke was found shot to death and burned in his vehicle in Squamish in 2017, where he had been living as a dirtbag climber under an assumed identity since 2006, but was not identified until October of 2020.[3]

Hawke's rise and fall as a spammer was chronicled in the 2004 book Spam Kings, in which he is the central case study.[18]

See also

References
  1. "American Nationalist Party". Anti-Defamation League. 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-09-09. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  2. "Meet the spam Nazi". Salon.com. 2003-07-29. Archived from the original on 2007-07-14. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  3. "Burned homicide victim found inside Squamish, B.C., vehicle in 2017 identified as U.S. resident". 2020.
  4. "'Gator, neo-Nazi gold top oddities". The Daily News Transcript. December 26, 2006. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  5. Moser, Bob (Fall 2003). "Return of the 'Kosher Nazi'". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  6. Potok, Mark (Spring 1999). "Violence, Hate and Youth". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 2011-10-02.
  7. "So Young to Hate". The Washington Post. Aug 7, 1999. Archived from the original on September 9, 2012. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  8. Clines, Francis X. (Aug 8, 1999). "Neo-Nazis Are No-Shows at Their March". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  9. Brian S. McWilliams, Spam Kings: The Real Story behind the High-Rolling Hucksters Pushing Porn, Pills, and %*@)# Enlargements, (O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2004) page 8 and 15
  10. McWilliams, page 17
  11. McWilliams, page 90
  12. McWilliams, page 145
  13. McWilliams, page 227
  14. McWilliams, page 245
  15. "AOL v. Davis Wolfgang Hawke, et al". AOL. 2004. Archived from the original on 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  16. "AOL digs for gold to pay for spam". CNN. 2006-08-16. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  17. "AOL gives up treasure hunt". Boston Herald. 2007-07-24. Archived from the original on 2007-08-23. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
  18. Spam Kings webpage
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