Facebook Sues Spam King & Associates

Facebook has filed a lawsuit against notorious spammer Sanford Wallace, also known as Spamford, and his two accomplices because they allegedly spammed bulk messages to Facebook members who thought that the posts were their friends' communications.

As per the reports, the messages allegedly informed Facebook members that their photo had appeared on another site for which they provide a hyperlink. However, on following the link, users are led to a different website that asks them to enter their e-mail ID and name in a pop-up window, following which a new pop-up says that they must select a password.

Users who follow the link are flooded with pop-ups as well as bogus error pages till they are presented with their supposed photo that actually shows a monkey's image. Pretending that it is all part of a prank, the site subsequently tells the user that he could play it on his friends. Security specialists state that the true objective of the site is to gather passwords and e-mail addresses.

Moreover, according to Facebook, the so-called impersonations increase the problems associated with the messages. While it is easy to identify and overlook usual spam messages, such is not the case with the Facebook spam, the company said in its statement of complaint. As the defendants illegally use hijacked Facebook accounts for dispatching their spam appearing to come from friends, it becomes harder to recognize those messages as spam. The site also complained that these spam messages damage the reputation of the company.

Reportedly, Jeremy Fogel, Judge of US District Court, has ordered a temporary halt of Sanford Wallace and the other two spammers to grant the request of Facebook. According to Fogel, Facebook has presented sufficient proof to suggest that it may succeed on its allegations that the trio of spammers was attacking Facebook members, as reported by MediaPost on February 3, 2009.

Notably, according to the security specialists, lawsuits against Wallace are not new. In 2008, MySpace won a case against Wallace after charging him for spamming. And for some years now, he has been facing lawsuits from FTC, AOL, and CompuServe.

Related article: Facebook Users Should be Careful of a Computer Virus

» SPAMfighter News - 3/7/2009