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Sanford Spamford Spyford Wallace Gets Hit With Spyware Fine

from the reformed,-eh? dept

Thu, May 4th 2006 12:51pm — Mike Masnick

In the early days of spam, there was no spammer more notorious or publicity seeking than Sanford "Spamford" Wallace. He was proud about his spamming and was always seeking more attention for it. However, after a few years of constantly being slammed by anti-spammers, Wallace claimed he was out of the business and had "reformed." He then went and did other things like trying to run a nightclub, which apparently failed. Apparently the lure of questionable online activities was too strong. In 2004, he was accused of being in the spyware game, tricking people into downloading his fake anti-spyware software by claiming that users had spyware that his software would remove (when it really did the opposite). Last summer, though, his case turned strange, when Wallace couldn't be found, and his lawyer wanted off the case. Today comes the news that Wallace has been fined $4 million for his spyware activity, but there's no word on whether or not he ever showed up. Either way, it should be a reminder of about how far you can trust a "reformed" spammer.

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Elvis Oswald, 4 May 2006 @ 2:03pm

Maybe he spammed the wrong person
Though spamming is a hassle... the spyware that hijacks your PC is a major pain in the ass. I've always said that if one of the people involved turned up dead with a keyboard up his ass, we'd see the end of spyware.
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- cjay, 4 May 2006 @ 2:19pm
  
  Re: Maybe he spammed the wrong person
  AMEN!
  
  I don't get fooled by them often, but cleaning out the in-laws' machine after an infestation is time I'll never get back...
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Anonymous Coward, 4 May 2006 @ 3:16pm

Costs
In my one man consulting firm I oversee some 500 seats and I see thousands of dollars burned up each year cleaning up after spyware. The cost as whole must be incredible.
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realtek, 4 May 2006 @ 5:23pm

I make thousands of dollars a year cleaning this junk off computers. There are simple ways to avoid it and after I clean a machine, I show the operator how to stay clean so they don't have to pay me again in three months when IE gets hijacked because with the right tools and running them religiously, youre pretty safe. I don't praise the spammer in anyway but I do make a nice living cleaning it off PC's. Spyware has actually evolved so much that its potentially more harmful (meaning annoying and unproductive) than a virus. I would definately laugh at the dead spammer with a keyboard stuck in his ass.
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- Elvis Oswald, 17 May 2006 @ 3:59pm
  
  Keyboard in the ass
  If you think that's funny... my great grandfather once hung a dead rat in the barn. He claimed the other rats would see what happened to him and stay away. haha
  I'm not sure it would work for rats - but it might work for spammers.
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