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Spam King Wallace Indicted For Facebook Spam

Posted by timothy on from the that's-guilty!-guilty!-guilty! dept.

itwbennett writes "Notorious spam king Sanford Wallace is facing federal fraud charges for allegedly breaking into the Facebook accounts of 500,000 victims in 2008 and 2009 and using the stolen credentials to post 27 million spam messages. The charges are outlined in an indictment, filed July 6 but made public Thursday after Wallace turned himself in to federal authorities. If convicted, Wallace could get more than 16 years in prison."

4 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Still? by plover · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I thought Spamford had turned over a new leaf? Giving interviews, promising no more spam.

    Good heavens. A spammer lied to us.

    --
    John
  2. This isn't spam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here's his business model:

    Wallace, 43, allegedly used a phishing attack to steal usernames and passwords from victims and then used the stolen credentials to post spam to victims walls, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Wallace allegedly made money from the scam by driving Web traffic to affiliate marketing companies, who pay their members by the number of clicks they can deliver to websites.

    So, he basically posed as other people, and those people's friends click on those links put there by Wallace thinking their friends put them there, and then Wallace gets paid.

    The other thing is the people "advertising" were doing business with Wallace. They didn't check him out with a simple google search? Or did they know and not give a shit because they're that desperate for traffic?

  3. And this is why it's still true that... by Arrogant-Bastard · · Score: 3, Insightful
    ...there is no such thing as an ex-spammer. Nobody, NOBODY, can produce a living example of one (either individual or corporate). Oh, they sometimes take a hiatus; they sometimes disappear and come back under another name; they sometimes switch tactics, strategy or modality; and they often claim that really, this time for sure, they've stopped...bu they never do.

    And this in turn why blacklist entries associated with these individuals and corporations should be permanent. It's kind and noble of people to try to forgive them, to give them yet another another another chance; but it's extremely naive and stupid.

  4. The Rules of Spam by Eggplant62 · · Score: 3, Informative
    From Bruce Pennypacker's Rules of Spam Post on his personal blog:

    Rule 0: Spam is theft

    Rule 1: Spammers lie.

    Rule 2: When in doubt about spammers lying, see rule 1.

    Rule #3: Spammers are stupid.

    Rule #4: The natural course of a spamming business is to go bankrupt.

    Time and again, these simple rules have proven themselves. Too many fallen spam kings, too many spam kings sitting in jail or just plain bankrupt.