
Facebook ‘Spam King’ Guilty for Sending 27M Messages - denzil_correa
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-25/facebook-spam-king-guilty-over-27-million-messages-u-s-says
======
bhouston
Now we need to go after the robocall spammers. They waste so much time of so
many people -- worse that email spammers. I swear they are doing +1B of spam
calls per month in North America.

~~~
Someone1234
Many robocall spammers are located abroad. They use VoIP endpoints to connect
with US phone numbers for pennies on the dollar (relative to international
calling prices).

But that's not even the biggest problem, the biggest problem is that it is
trivial to spoof caller IDs in the US, and many of those operators do just
that.

So tracking down who actually called can be tricky, then even if you could you
still need to either get them extradited for robocalls (which isn't happening)
or get them prosecuted abroad for breaking US law (which, again, isn't
happening).

I personally feel like it can be solved however it has to be solved like this:

\- Eliminated caller ID spoofing through technical means.

\- Once caller ID is accurate, you can both have apps/databases with known bad
callers or callers from VoIP providers, and or you could fine the VoIP
providers facilitating this type of activity in the US (i.e. give them a
motivation to stop abusive behaviour on their services).

I mean heck, if a VoIP limited each account to just ten calls per minute, it
would massively decrease the volume of robocalls overnight. But none do
because they have a financial motivation to keep allowing these companies to
operate on their services and zero motivation to stop them (since it is almost
untraceable anyway).

~~~
bduerst
Isn't this what the FCC is for? Can't they require providers to update their
standards for the public?

It would be interesting if they could implement a system where you could dial
(555-555-5555) or something after receiving a robocall, which would log your
last received call as being fraudulent and flag it for providers to shadow ban
it. Would that work for spoofing caller ID?

~~~
bglazer
[https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/contests/robocalls-
humanity-...](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/contests/robocalls-humanity-
strikes-back)

The FTC had a competition called "Robocalls, Humanity Strikes Back" and two
guys implemented a very similar idea.

Hopefully the FTC will follow through and make this widely available.

~~~
BHSPitMonkey
Wow, that's actually really cool. Interesting to see the FTC getting involved
with the community like that.

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lpsz
For those who don't know, this fellow was famous as early as the 90s [1].

If he returns to spamming again and again, doesn't it mean that the punishment
is lesser than the gains to be had? And too bad.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Wallace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Wallace)

~~~
bitJericho
It also means that eventually the courts will throw the book at him XD

~~~
untog
The evidence suggests otherwise.

~~~
bitJericho
Did you and I read the same thing? He's looking at jail time.

------
andrewpi
Sanford Wallace is quite famous for his spamming history for those who
remember the 90s:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Wallace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Wallace)

~~~
FilterSweep
> In 2001 he was linked to a website, passthison.com, _which utilized
> multiple-window launching to snag Web viewers, an advertising practice
> rarely seen outside of the online pornography industry_.

It's funny how 2001 bad spyware practices used only on porn sites have been
utilized by mainstream media sites via iOS/Android browser redirects in 2015.

~~~
fein
Well, porn sites figured out it was bad for business. The demographic targeted
for these spam messages easily falls for the same tricks, but aren't getting
any services in exchange; only a faceless company.

Credit card farmers don't really care about repeat business, same goes for the
brain pill trial guys that people for some reason give their CC info
willingly. If someone catches on, you just bring up another llc, rinse, and
repeat.

~~~
pjc50
No, we got popup blocking built into browsers about a decade ago. Similarly,
intrusive advertising is driving flashblocking and indeed total ad-blocking.

(Currenltly struggling with the fact that Plume for Android is nice to use -
except when ads bounce you out of the app without being clicked on, sometimes
over and over again)

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georgeglue1
Is 27 million messages a lot? I'm not sure if this is a testament to how good
facebook is at fighting spam, or a media error.

~~~
sydneyliu
Facebook's usually really good about fighting spammers and multiple accounts
from what I've seen. Early community was facebook was filled with spammers but
it's much harder to find spam accounts nowadays. Basically every account I
encounter is real....I wonder what crazy thing he had to do to get 500k spam
accounts

~~~
SN76477
I made a nice bit of money spamming those early community pages. . . Ahh yes
the good 'ole days.

~~~
wpietri
The technical term is not "made", but something more like "stole". If you put
$1 in your pocket while wasting $10 (or, more likely, $100 or $1000) of other
people's time, then you're not a productive citizen, you're a parasite.

------
danielweber
Holy crap, it's Spamford. I totally lost track of him for years, but this is
his one-trick pony. He knows nothing else besides how to send spam, and will
do it no matter what he has to break into to do it. Very obsessed.

------
chatmasta
Wait, so what was the actual crime? Violating a court order forbidding any
access to Facebook? Was he charged under CANSPAM? Or CFAA (was he phishing
real accounts?)

I'm confused how this turned into a criminal case.

~~~
dredmorbius
_Violating a court order forbidding any access to Facebook?_

Yes, as stated in the article.

"Spamford" Wallace has a slight history, including multiple instances of
recidivism after former spamming episodes dating to 1991.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Wallace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Wallace)

 _In the late 1990s, his company, Cyber Promotions, aka Cyberpromo, was widely
blacklisted as a source of unsolicited email. Wallace 's high-profile pro-spam
stance and unrepentant persistence earned him the derisive nickname
'Spamford'._

 _Prior to his email spam ventures, Wallace had gained notoriety in other
questionable marketing circles, as a heavy utilizer of junk fax marketing, a
practice outlawed in the United States since 1991.[2]_

 _In 1995, Wallace formed Cyber Promotions, entering the spam market. Thanks
to a self-marketing campaign, Cyberpromo rapidly became the most successful
seller of email marketing—as well as the number one source of unsolicited
email. After Cyberpromo failed to become a legitimate business, Wallace
returned to junk faxing in late 1997.[2]_

~~~
chatmasta
So why is violating a court order not to access Facebook considered criminal
contempt, not civil contempt?

~~~
55555
I read previously that he is charged criminally for hacking the
100,000-500,000 accounts. They were real accounts which belonged to real
people and he may have phished them.

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amyjess
Wow, I didn't know Spamford was even still around.

I still remember the hundreds of cyberout.com emails I'd get from his company
back when I used AOL around 1995.

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interesting_att
Was this man prosecuted primarily because of his notorious history? I have
never heard of FB spammers being prosecuted before.

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sparaker
Anybody know how was he spamming? Using wall or messages?

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skimpycompiler
Pff, 250 and 700 million dollars. That seems ridiculously large for a petty
spamming crime.

At least he filed bankruptcy.

