Alleged Facebook spammer might face the slammer
Filed under: Extracurriculars, Ripoffs and Scams, Technology, Fraud
His name is Sanford Wallace, and his alleged spamming might possibly make him the most disliked man on the Internet. Facebook has a civil lawsuit pending against him, which has been stalled by his filing for bankruptcy. Myspace has already been granted a $230 million judgment against him for slinging pornography and gambling links onto its site. At last however, Sanford Wallace may have to face the music by doing hard time.PC World has reported that the courts have determined that Wallace has set himself up for criminal prosecution. The article states in part: "Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California referred Sanford Wallace to the U.S. Attorney General's Office for criminal proceedings for allegedly violating an injunction that prohibited him from accessing Facebook."
Sanford Wallace began his unsavory cyber career with fax spamming. That's the practice which causes those unsolicited offers for timeshares, insurance policies, and foreclosed real estate deals to randomly pop up on your fax machines at work.
Next, Wallace entered the world of email spamming. He was pretty good at that, becoming the number-one source of unsolicited email. Unfortunately for him though, he was also successful in initiating powerful efforts to thwart his brand of seedy tactics. He was also too thick-skulled to effectively defend his sinister web antics or to retain virtual invisibility.
For a brief time in 1998, Wallace attempted to go legitimate -- or at least that's what he told us. As luck would have it though, his "opt-in" email venture went belly up within a year. Then, in 1999 he had his web connection severed for spamming once again. He tried to counter-punch the disconnection by filing suit against elements of the anti-spam camp. But alas, he failed at that venture also and abandoned the lawsuit in about 30 days.At this point, spammers similar to Sanford Wallace generally face criminal charges based on a two-tier approach. First, they must be found guilty through a civil tort, which then allows judges to place restraining orders upon the spammer's actions. Then, if the spammer violates a court order, they can be criminally prosecuted for those specific violations.
Perhaps the only thing worse than a crook who isn't particularly good at covering his tracks, is a crook who has a chance to get out of the game -- but is too dumb to do it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-16-2009 @ 11:40AM
Carlton said...
No matter how bad things get you can't go over to the dark side and break the law like that spammer did.
I went from having a great job, to no job, and now, to my own business. I don't worry about rules for employees anymore and I do my best to make sure that most of my clients don't either.
The rules have changed. If you're looking for a great job, with a great company, with great benefits, that you will have your entire life, until you retire, stop looking. That was then this is now. That job doesn't exist anymore for 99% of us. Unless you have unique and remarkable skills you better figure out what will work best for you and your family. I am a former executive who left the corporate world to help people adjust to the new realities. My suggestion to most is to do what millions of people are doing now, find a good home business. That won't work for everyone but if you find one that you can get into for virtually no investment and learn the right skills, you should do well.
There are two opportunities that my clients have had the most success with. One is serving the 130 million pet owners in our country. http://cli.gs/HealthyPetBiz That's a huge market to work with. The other is working with a company that we all know and there are well over 700,000 people making a full time living with them. http://cli.gs/HomeBizSuccessSystem
So many of my clients tell me that they are loving working for themselves, making more money than before, in less time, and enjoy the extra time they have to spend with their families.
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6-18-2009 @ 6:33AM
AmericanPatrick said...
DON'T GO TO THESE SITES THEY ARE FULL OF COOKIES AND A VIRUS! you are next with your spam on my screen, get a job, and go sell your crap to your family. all you crap sales scammers/spammers should be in jail.
6-17-2009 @ 12:16PM
rippedtoo said...
The Internet should be reclassified as an auxillary utility because the Super Highway is used by businesses to conduct business as if it is office equipment such as a telephone, thus it should be mandated to follow the same personal harassment codes from the FCC, PUC, and/or the telephone companies. Telephone companies prohibit scams and harassment and since you connect to the Internet via phone lines and communication cables, the information that is transmitted should be controlled via state or federal regulation.
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6-18-2009 @ 8:38AM
rwa325 said...
I agree that the internet should be reclassified as a utility and come under the full protection of the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and any other federal agency that might apply. And considering that the financial loss to the internet users ranges from millions to billions of dollars, the minimum sentence for first time offense should be AT LEAST 10 years in a federal facility, 25 years second offense and 50 years third offense. Plus, every effort should be made to make it an international treaty item.
6-18-2009 @ 9:05AM
rwa325 said...
I agree that the internet should be reclassified as a public utility and come under the full protection of the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Considering that the financial loss to users from mega-spammers and virus spreaders range from millions to billions of dollars, a first time offender should get a MINIMUM of ten years in a Federaf facility. Also, every effort should be made to make this an international crime by UN resolution.
6-18-2009 @ 2:00PM
Karen said...
Unfortunately the govenment can't run the US Postal service do you really expect them to govern the Internet? Just like the saying goes buyer beware, well everyone should be their own advocate when it comes to the internet, keep track of your own bank accounts and credit cards on a daily, weekly basis and change your passwords on a regular basis. Lock up your credit as well.
6-17-2009 @ 12:16PM
rippedtoo said...
Sorry, the Internet comment got posted in the wrong place; it was a response to scams.
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6-18-2009 @ 8:18AM
Joe Bell said...
PUT HIM IN JAIL AND NEVER LET HIM OUT. JUST LOOK WHAT HE HAS COST PEOPLE TO GET THEIR COMPUTERS CLEANED. I SAY SOCK IT TO HIM.
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6-18-2009 @ 8:26AM
michctr said...
CRACK THE WHIP, THE JERK BELONGS IN JAIL FOR THE DAMAGE AND COSTS THAT USERS INCURRED.
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6-18-2009 @ 8:26AM
lovely said...
Why make people suffer with crap like this, if the goverment can do so much why isn't there a way to stop spam all together without all of the costly issues. We wouldn't have this problem if someone could find a way to completely zap that crap from computers. He needs to be locked up.
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6-18-2009 @ 8:40AM
parrotmalito said...
HEY, BE CAREFUL WITH GOOGLECASH...THAT IS A SCAM..!!, ALSO BE CAREFUL WITH ALL THE "WORK-AT-HOME" OFFERS, THEY ARE ALSO SCAMS..!..IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME, GO TO THIS SITE:
WWW.RIPOFFREPORT.COM
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6-18-2009 @ 8:49AM
Bobby said...
Any site with Google in it is a SCAM! Google does not offer jobs like these. Go to the official Google site and find out before you get rooked.
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6-18-2009 @ 8:56AM
sellyourclassics.com said...
I would say throw away the key....later Beatch
www.sellyourclassics.com
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