Facebook ‘Spam King’ guilty for sending 27 million messages

Federal officials say a Nevada man has pleaded guilty for sending more than 27 million of spam messages to Facebook users. Unsurprisingly Facebook hasn’t received a single cent of this as Wallace is bankrupt, but that hasn’t stopped the courts potentially adding an additional $250,000 to the list along with up to three years in jail.

Sanford Wallace, 47, known as the “Spam King”, admitted to his mass spamming in 2008 and 2009 while pleading guilty on Monday to fraud and criminal contempt, San Francisco US Attorney Melinda Haag said in a statement.

Wallace collected Facebook user account information by sending “phishing” messages that tricked users of the social networking site into providing their passwords, prosecutors said.

As the posts came from a supposedly trustworthy source, many users clicked on the links contained in them, which directed them to websites which paid Wallace for each visitor.

Mr. Wallace was freed on bond and will be sentenced in December.

Wallace was charged with fraud and criminal contempt. Wallace has further been accused of violating a court order preventing him from accessing Facebook’s computer network.

Wallace’s lawyer William Burns is yet to comment on the plea.