Facebook spammer ordered to pay $711 million

Facebook has been awarded $711 million in damages against spammer Sanford Wallace for bombarding the social networking with phony wall posts and messages. The so-called “Spam King” was sued in February along with Adam Arzoomanian and Scott Shaw for allegedly obtaining login credentials for other users' accounts, and sending out links to phishing sites and other websites that paid spammers for referrals.

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In my opinion the fines are just plain retarded. Give the guy prison time and be done with it. Fines like this that will never even remotely come close to being paid are worthless, and I find it hard to believe that he seriously caused that much money to be lost.

Prison time, enough with meaningless fines.

Agreed - but fines WITH prison time. This guy has more money than he knows what to do with - jail will be more of a deterrent than the fines.

Yeah, I agree. Prison time should have been his reward. I'm glad severe action is being taken against him though. I have no idea how much money the guy has, but I hope he loses it all!

Some people just never learn... After being caught once, I think I'd think twice before doing it again.

Agreed, he has been caught screwing with myspace, now he hits up facebook? not very bright. Also agree on the prison time. Lock him up for a while, and make him pay some fines and see what kind of tune he is singing then.

Ouch. I think he needs a good amount of jail time and then probation with NO internet (like house arrest). Some people never learn.

One question: How can he like, do anything with that 230+ dollar fine?

What do these spammers get out of doing this stuff. I understand "king of Nigeria" spam. At lease they can get money out of stupid people, but this? Get a JOB!

He will end up working for a company in charge of network security .
I think he makes a lot of money he considers his company to be the one stop shopping for spam,
and compares himself to Madonna and Howard Stern so he must have money.
I hope he gets spammed in the slammer, Ha Ha…I hate spam !!

Well, since we facebook users were IMHO the ones who received the most "damages" by the spammer, I think it's reasonable to say that those affected would receive a small portion of whatever is paid. I know that kind of thing would NEVER happen, but if we want to talk about who really received the most "damage", I'd say it's more the users. Has anyone else ever seen this ugly dude? I'd say he doesn't have to worry about rape, just being the next punching/shanking bag....

Simple solution... Seize all of his assets, liquidate them all to pay his fines, then throw him in jail for a nice stretch where he can be some huge hairy guy's girlfriend...

Then see how many spam czars soil themselves and begin to rethink their careers. All you need is one really good example to help curb their enthusiasm about the spam business.

I agree that the fines awarded are seldom collected and therefore the actual number is pointless. Jail time and seizing all assests (as the assets are from the proceeds of a crime) should be enforced.

I hope they take everything he has although he's probably hidden his assets away to avoid paying any taxes. He does deserve some jail time and he should never be allowed to operate or work at a company related to the computer or software industry.

I don't get it, you get caught multiple times and you're being fined millions upon millions of dollars and yet you still keep breaking the law over and over and over again. This seems to me to point out that either the justice system is entirely inadequate or there is something seriously wrong with this man.

I wish they would come down hard on this guy.

As a repeat offender, he does deserve a computer ban, or at least an internet ban (if that can even be enforced??).

As for paying for this crime, tis a hefty fine he will probably be paying for the rest of his life, but all assests obtained from the criminal act should deff be seized and put towards the fine payment.

It seems to me he's making more money that they can fine him (or he's not paying the fines) since he keeps on doing this.

I hate to disagree with all of you, but why do people fight a way of making money? All our white collar jobs are in India, so I guess we may resort to digging ditches and paving more roads. Is it so hard to press the delete key?

well... i doubt the fine is going to detour people from spamming. they spam and hack because it's a power trip for them. companies need to take these people into the fold and work with them to better their security.

I hate spammers. Even when I make websites for a client some kind of spam-bot finds their way into my database!

Even though I really don't think he will be able to pay the amount, its fun to say I guess. To me it's like the file sharing issue when they are fined some ridiculous amount that only ruins their lives.