MySpace Sues man for sending millions of spam messages

[Mr.Sam]

The popular online social networking Web site MySpace.com has sued a Colorado man once accused of being one of the world's top three spammers, saying the man gained access to MySpace profiles using stolen passwords and used the information to send spam bulletins. MySpace, which is owned by News Corp., claims Scott Richter and his various companies, including OptInRealBig.com and Mediabreakway.com, sent millions of spam messages to members using technology that made the messages look like they had come from individual members' accounts.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles and asks for damages, an injunction preventing Richter and his companies from accessing MySpace, and repayment of all profits gained as a result of the activity.
Several calls to Richter were not returned Monday.
Managing its rapid growth has been a challenge for MySpace, which has fallen prey to people who launch spam attacks.
Unlike random unsolicited e-mails, which are readily identified as junk, the spam bulletins on MySpace appear to be sent by trusted friends, giving them an air of legitimacy.
Spammers are able to send the fake messages by planting viruses that post spoof login pages, asking users to re-enter their user name and password. The spam program then logs into the account and send the unwanted ad messages to a person's friend list, which in some cases can number in the tens of thousands.
The lawsuit claims Richter either stole user names and passwords through a "phishing" attack, or acquired a list of names and passwords from a third party.
The messages include come-ons offering free ringtones, Lacoste polo shirts or other items, the lawsuit alleges.
MySpace has gotten more aggressive in fighting spammers. In recent months, the Beverly Hills-based company hired Hemanshu Nigam, a former federal prosecutor, to head its security efforts and is rapidly expanding its team of software engineers, lawyers and other experts who look for suspicious activity, educate users on how to prevent attacks and go after the worst offenders.
"We're committed to protecting our community from phishing and spam," Nigam said. "If it takes filing a federal suit to stop someone who violates the law and damages our members' experience, then that's what we'll do."
In 2005, Richter agreed to pay $7 million in a settlement with Microsoft Corp. over spam messages. He also settled a similar lawsuit with New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer that alleged Richter made millions of dollars from unsolicited e-mails.





http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...a/16520570.htm

[beer]

OMG. Now i know what was happening to my friend sarahs account when she was posting those spam bulletins.

[simon!]

OMG. Now i know what was happening to my friend sarahs account when she was posting those spam bulletins.

Yeah my friends Myspace does that! She was ranting at me the other day saying "I wish people would stop spamming the bulletin!!! Lol! Im glad I dont go on it

Edit: My friend said that you have to delete the friends that have a cross through their picture or something. It says "Profile no longer exists" or something along those lines... it helped her out anyway.

[RedStratocas]

Yeah, a lot of people's profiles get hacked, usually the myspace wrs with a million friends they dont know.

[Eamonn]

Happened to my sister that did with the fake login pages, she had some random bulletins posted nearly every time until she finally realized, she only has about 50 friends on there though all whom she knows irl so it might of been one of them hmm.

[beth]

the only reason things like that happen is that people are dopey enough to click links that already look suspicious.
"lol, look @ this hot girl gettin nekkid online" well, why would you click that anyway tbh?
i've had myspace for 3 years & not once have i been hacked. although, my sister was but she just left herself logged in at an internet cafe. fool.

[cocaine]

lol beth.

and ahaa.

[RedStratocas]

It really only happens to stupid people, Bethie is right. Only the people who are dumb enough to click those links like "OMG I GOT A FREE GIFT CARD!" and stuff. Most people are too stupid/lazy to actually put the HTML for a link in a bulliten, so you can assume it's suspicious

[beth]

i still don't know why people still sign into fake logins after myspace put a thing saying "check the url" above the REAL log in box.
it's just stupid. pshhh

[CustomHabbo]

I deleted my myspace and had to make a new one because it kep posting so many comments and all that