'Spam King' pleads guilty to sending 27 mn Facebook messages

By GizBot Bureau
|

Often dubbed the ‘Spam King', Sandford Wallace from Las Vegas has pleaded guilty to illegally accessing half a million Facebook accounts and sending over 27 million spam messages on its servers in 2008 and 2009, Engadget.com reported.

'Spam King' pleads guilty to sending 27 mn Facebook messages

Wallace had already been ordered by the United States District Court Northern District of California in San Jose not to access Facebook's network when he committed the crime.

SEE ALSO: Samsung Cuts Galaxy Note 4 Price Ahead of Note 5 Release in India: Top 10 Online Deals

He also pleaded guilty to violating that order at his trial on August 24. He faces a possible three-year jail sentence and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in December.

He started a company called SmartBot, which infected people's computers with viruses and then pushed a pop-up to suggest using its own software to remove it.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a suit against him in 2004 and in 2006 he was ordered to pay $4 million as penalty.

He tried his controversial spamming methods again on Facebook until the social network filed a suit against him in 2009.

SEE ALSO: GizBot Giveaway: We're Are Giving Away 25 OnePlus 2 Invites!

The judge ruled that Wallace owed Facebook $711 million. But Wallace didn't pay the Facebook any fine.

Eventually, a judge in California requested that Wallace be investigated by the FBI for criminal contempt to finally put an end to his activities.

The FBI investigation unearthed that Wallace had sent 27 million pieces of spam from 500,000 compromised Facebook accounts from 143 proxied IP addresses.

Source IANS

Best Mobiles in India

Read More About: facebook spam

Best Phones

Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Yes No
Settings X
X