Facebook spammer fined $1 billion for over 4 million posts

Earlier this year, Canadian spammer Adam Guerbuez lost a lawsuit in the US. Facebook alleged he spammed millions of accounts and in November 2008 he was ordered to pay $873 million. Guerbuez ignored the ruling and even mocked it publicly, referring to himself as the "$873 million man." In its court filings, Facebook said Guerbuez stole passwords through phishing attacks and used a botnet of hacked computers to access Facebook accounts without authorization, meaning he could be potentially subject to a criminal prosecution in addition to the civil judgment against him.

Facebook asked the Canadian court to uphold the US judgment against Guerbuez after he failed to show to fight the charges in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Last week, a Canadian court upheld the ruling and ordered him to pay, according to The Gazette and cnews. If we include some additional damages and the Canadian exchange rate, Guerbuez actually owes Facebook $1,068,928,721.46 for his four million spam posts on penis-enlargement, marijuana, and pornography. The spammer has actually filed for bankruptcy, so he's still not planning on paying. We doubt he's actually bankrupt, but at the same time 1 billion is a little much for a spam fine.

Guerbuez seems happy with the attention, however, noting that he would like to convert his notoriety into a book or movie deal. His blog shows him living the high life in Las Vegas and Beverly Hills, as well as dining out at expensive restaurants in Montreal. He's particularly proud of getting the "Largest Award Ever" under the CAN SPAM act in the Guiness Book of World Records for 2010.