The last guys who got busted for this lost settlements from 700 million - 800 million.
Facebook sued three more individuals and their respective companies for allegedly using phishing techniques to obtain user information, and then sending spam from those compromised accounts, CNET reported.
Defendants named in the suit were individuals Jeremi Fisher, Philip Porembski and Ryan Shimeall and companies Choko Systems, Harm and iMedia Online Services.
Choko Systems, in particular, seems to be involved in all sorts of fun activities, as its Website lists the following domain names for sale: nakeduploads.com, 247erotic.com, sexonline.ws, 7card-poker.com, adultdvdpro.us, adults-porno.com, allkindsofpussy.com, bestadultmedia.com, wetscrew.com, pornworld.ws, online-casinos-list.com and gamblingonline.info.
The lawsuit was filed Monday in a federal court in San Jose, California, and named as defendants Jeremi Fisher, Philip Porembski, Ryan Shimeall and the companies associated with them, Choko Systems, Harm, and iMedia Online Services, according to a Facebook statement late on Tuesday. The defendants could not be reached for comment.
The defendants are accused of launching at least four spam campaigns over the last couple of years, the latest in the last three months being responsible for nearly three-fourth of all spam on the site, according to the suit. The latest “escalated attack” included spam offering a colon cleanser, fake messages purporting to show a video of the recipient and offers for recipients to make money through a fake “Google Campaign.” Clicking on the spam typically sends a user through various marketing sites before landing them on a page that prompts for their Facebook log in information.
It is unclear exactly how Facebook user log in information, used to send spam to friends, was obtained.
Facebook has spent US$5,000 combating the spam, according to the suit. The lawsuit makes claims under the Can-Spam (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Anti-Phishing Act and the California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, according to Facebook.
