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Court Pokes Facebook Spammer for $873M

Cybercriminal accused of hijacking user profiles to send out millions of messages

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 25, 2008 7:09 AM CST

(Newser) – Facebook has won an $873 million judgment against a man accused of hijacking user profiles to spew spam, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The award—the biggest ever under federal spamming laws—was made against a Canadian citizen who Facebook accused of stealing login details to send more than 4 million messages; the spam advertised products like marijuana and male enhancement pills and appeared to be endorsed by the user.

"We know where he is and where he lives and we're looking for him to execute the judgment," said Facebook's chief lawyer of Adam Guerbuez, who did not show up in court. "We have no illusions that we'll get $873 million from this guy, but from what we can tell he has substantial resources. If he has $1 million, we'll take $1 million."

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Facebook welcomed an $837 million judgment against a spammer and vowed that it would go after him for everything he had. (Shutter Stock)

The $837 million judgment is the biggest award ever made under the federal CAN-SPAM Act. (Getty Images)

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We are very much intent on policing the site and making sure Facebook is not seen as a place for spammers to target. - Sam O'Rourke, Facebook's senior corporate counsel

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Court Pokes Facebook Spammer for $873M