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Topic: Letters Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 6/7/2006 10:07:58 AM
Title: Newsman seeks advice after e-mails stolen
Posted By: Jim Romenesko
 
From CRAIG MALISOW: My name is Craig Malisow, and I'm a reporter with the Village Voice-owned Houston Press. For the past few weeks, I've been investigating online pharmacy referral services. I bought some generic Vicodin from a company based in Costa Rica, to see how easy it was. I called their Las Vegas customer service line, faked a story about a back injury, and requested a telephone consult. I received a call from a doctor (later identified as a medical student, not licensed to prescribe) at a New York area code. In five minutes, he approved my script. The script was sent from a Florida pharmacy, approved by a Florida doctor I never spoke with. My money went to Costa Rica.

I interviewed the spokesperson for the company and told him what I did. We spoke on the record. He knew I was writing a story.

A few days ago, I posted a query on an online forum for people who buy their drugs online. I identified myself as a reporter and asked to hear their stories. In the course of this correspondence, I explained my dealings with this one company. An employee of that company was reading the forum and didn't like what I had written, so he posted the Yahoo e-mail and password I used to open an account with the company. He told the people on the site that the password with his company might be the same as my Yahoo password, and to have at it.

They did. All my e-mails on that account have been erased, and he sent me an e-mail saying that unless I write a positive story, he's going to disseminate all my private info.

I've never been blackmailed before. Do I have any recourse? It doesn't look like VV has my back on this. I feel powerless, and I desperately need some advice. Any ideas? [Permalink]

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