Spammers "BEWARE"

MySpace wins $230 million in judge’s anti-spam decision

The popular online social networking site MySpace has won a $230 million (£115 million) judgment over junk messages sent to its members in what is believed to be the largest anti-spam award ever.

Notorious "Spam King" Sanford Wallace and his partner Walter Rines sent more than 730,000 messages, many made to look like they were from members' friends, MySpace said.

A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled against a notorious “Spam King,” Sanford Wallace, and his partner, Walter Rines, after the two failed to show up at a court hearing, MySpace told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Rines and Wallace created their own MySpace accounts or took over existing ones by stealing passwords through “phishing” scams, said MySpace’s chief security officer, Hemanshu Nigam.
They then e-mailed other MySpace members, he said, “asking them to check out a cool video or another cool site. When you (got) there, they were making money trying to sell you something or making money based on hits or trying to sell ring tones.”

MySpace said the spam deluged its bandwidth and also cost money to deliver – as well as prompting complaints from hundreds of users. Wallace was last listed as living in Las Vegas and Rines in Stratham, New Hampshire.

Under U.S. anti-spam laws, each violation entitles MySpace to $100 (£50) in damages – or three times that figure when carried out "willfully and knowingly".

The judge also issued injunctions barring similar activities in the future.

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