MySpace Awarded $230 Million from Spammers

A Los Angeles court has awarded MySpace one of the largest-ever spam judgments, but the company will probably have trouble trying to collect from the missing spammers.

In what may be one of the largest punishments ever doled out for spamming, MySpace managed to stick two spammers who abused its site with a $230 million judgment on Tuesday. A Los Angeles judge awarded the judgment after defendants Sanford Wallace, and his partner, Walter Rines failed to appear in court.

According to the Associated Press, Wallace and Rines allegedly carried out their spamming through MySpace by creating fake accounts and taking over others with phishing e-mails, then sending e-mails to MySpace members that appeared to come from friends, asking them to visit a link. The links took users to gambling and pornography Web sites.

The duo sent 730,000 such e-mails, each of which carries a $100 fee under the CAN-SPAM Act, or triple if carried out “willfully and knowingly.” The rest of the $230 million came from violations of other laws, such as California’s own anti-phishing laws, and MySpace’s lawyers’ fees, which the pair were ordered to pay.

Despite the huge sum MySpace has been awarded, the company will more than likely come up empty handed when it comes time to collect. Besides their failure to appear in court, neither man has been tracked down at any of a number of reported addresses.