MySpace sues 'Spam King' for phishing

Social networking site MySpace announced today that it has filed a lawsuit against "Spam King" Sanford Wallace for spearheading a phishing scheme to steal login credentials.

Wallace, who claimed in 1998 that he was quitting the spam business, allegedly used that information to create profiles, groups and forums to spam users into visiting deceptive websites, according to a statement.

MySpace – one of the world’s most heavily trafficked websites with more than 130 million accounts – claims Wallace violated state and federal anti-spam laws.

"Individuals who try to spam or phish our members are not welcome on MySpace," Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace CSO, said. "We will continue to aggressively protect our members through a combination of legal action, law enforcement pursuit and technological advancements."

The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a permanent injunction banning Wallace from using MySpace.

Wallace, who started his criminal career in the early 1990s as a junk fax mailer, was ordered last year by the Federal Trade Commission to pay $4 million for a spyware campaign launched by his company, SmartBot.net.

For more on Myspace, see the cover story in the February issue of SC Magazine.

Click here to email reporter Dan Kaplan.