Facebook Wins $711 Million From Spammer

Facebook has won a multi-million dollar payout from spammer Sanford Wallace.


Social networking site Facebook was today awarded $711 million in damages in a suit against serial spammer Sanford Wallace.

The LA Times reports that Wallace sent millions of unsolicited emails to registered Facebook users, tricking many of them into divulging their login information or redirecting them to sites that paid him for each visit. A judge yesterday said that the spammer had acted with blatant disregard for Facebook users.

"Wallace willfully violated the statutes in question with blatant disregard for the rights of Facebook users whose accounts were compromised by his conduct," U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel in San Jose said, according to the LA Times.

Now $711 million is a lot of money, especially when the person you're trying to extract it from is a total crook. But it seems Facebook is fully prepared to wait for the cash.

"While we don't expect to quickly collect the full amount, we'll work hard to get everything we can," Simon Axten, a privacy and public policy associate at Facebook, said in a statement.

In addition to the damages, Wallace is not allowed access Facebook. That's right, no poking for you, sir!

ADVERTISING »

Download Fast

« ADVERTISING