Today we bring you two cyber-crime updates of shocking proportions.

The first news story surprises us because of the sheer size of the crime. Two botnet operators who allegedly ran a network of 1.5 million computers may spend up to three years behind bars, Dutch authorities say.

This particular botnet operation, uncovered in 2005, turned out to be 15 times larger than police had expected. The suspects allegedly constructed two viruses that were let loose on the web as part of their plan. "Toxbot" was used to recruit a worldwide network of adware infested zombie computers, as "Wayphisher" stole credit card and online bank account information.

The other e-crime update has us amazed due to the size of the punishment. Jeffrey Goodin of California, USA could face up to 101 years behind bars after being convicted last week of sending out fraudulent e-mail and related crimes while running a sophisticated phishing scam. Goodin allegedly tricked people into giving up their credit card information by sending them phoney e-mails from AOLs billing department.

If that doesn't deter cyber criminals? what will?!