MySpace Wins Against Spamford Wallace Who Has Disappeared (Once Again)

from the old-habits-die-hard dept

Wed, Apr 30th 2008 3:52am — Mike Masnick

Remember Sanford "Spamford" Wallace? Back in the 90s, he was the face of the proud spammer. He was quoted widely and proclaimed himself the spam king (which he insisted was legal). That was great until the law caught up to him and he claimed he reformed. For a little while he went into the nightclub business, which didn't work out. So, he jumped on the next big thing: spyware. A $4 million fine later, and he apparently moved on to spamming MySpace, setting up 11,000 fake profiles that redirected visitors to various marketing websites.

MySpace sued him for this and a judge has ruled in the company's favor, in large part because Wallace pretty much ignored the case. At first he procrastinated and gave excuses, and then just stopped responding altogether. This isn't the first time this has happened, either. With that whole spyware case a few years back, even Wallace's lawyer admitted that Wallace had disappeared entirely. Sense a pattern? Wallace seems to jump on any sort of scheming online marketing scam, and when the law finally catches up to him, he runs and hides. Somehow, I doubt that MySpace will collect on any money the court awards it.

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Filed Under: sanford wallace, spamford wallace
Companies: myspace

19 Comments

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koresho, 30 Apr 2008 @ 4:52am

good.
I don't much like Myspace, but any spammer that gets shut down, even temporarily, is good news to me...
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2008 @ 5:04am

Next time they catch him, they should SHOOT him! Then he can disappear FOREVER!
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direct effect, 30 Apr 2008 @ 6:58am

wow
i dind even know about this...
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Mike F.M, 30 Apr 2008 @ 7:16am

And they let him?
You would have thought that after his last escape, and the fact that he seems to jump from scam to scam, that they might keep just a bit of a better eye on him.
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Richard Head, 30 Apr 2008 @ 7:24am

Mr Wallace
Fucking myspace! Typical of a large organisation ganging up on the little guy!

wankers
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- James, 30 Apr 2008 @ 7:38am
  
  Re: Mr Wallace
  Little guy......pffft....whatever, they should burn him at the stake, we could use telemarketers as kindling, or hmm... public stoning?
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  - JS Beckerist, 30 Apr 2008 @ 8:41am
    
    Re: Re: Mr Wallace
    ...public stoning?
    
    Way ahead of you man ;)
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    - dude, 30 Apr 2008 @ 10:29am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Mr Wallace
      stoned.....huh?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2008 @ 10:40am
    
    Re: Re: Mr Wallace
    yes, that would be StoneWalling!
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ECA (profile), 30 Apr 2008 @ 7:43am

Alternative collection
IF you cant find the SPAMMER..

Ever wonder HOw he got permission to ADVERT those sites??
Isnt it the responsibility of the Person/company BEING adverted, to make sure its LEGAL??

Collect for the companies...then let the COMPANIES collect from Wallace. Collection and credit corps are NOT easy to run away from.
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Todd, 30 Apr 2008 @ 9:09am

Useless Schmuck
Yep. Yet another nimrod who has no talent other than finding ways to make money by doing nothing except annoying the hell outa of everyone else. It is not a new idea by anymeans. But I just can not stand butt heads like this who have never picked up a hammer or changed a car tire in their life. But at the same time must find themselves to above all others.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Apr 2008 @ 10:45am

What's MySpace?
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Hyrulio, 30 Apr 2008 @ 11:18am

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

what kind of emo loner has 11,000 myspace acounts? i don't even have one!
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- Hyrulio, 30 Apr 2008 @ 11:20am
  
  Re:
  just remembered, i have one, but it's only there because one of my friends wanted me to see some pictures on her account
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John (profile), 1 May 2008 @ 4:20pm

Going after the companies advertised
Going after the companies advertised in the spam adverts is certainly an option, but it will probably be useless. Most companies will have the usual "plausible deniability" claim of "We can't keep track of all of our advertising affiliates." or "That was one bad apple. We can't be responsible for him."

Maybe we need to change the laws so these companies ARE held responsible for every affiliate and advertising that they hire. If their products are spamvertised on MySpace, they should be held accountable.
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John, 15 May 2008 @ 2:33am

What if he went Legitimate?
You have to give credit to this guy. He's done everything possible to make a quick buck out of the internet. He's even been successful in some of his exploits.

If this guy went legitimate and had some patience he could probably have done something great. Instead he went for the quick buck and now is chased down by everyone.

I guess its a bit like the Drug trade, easy money comes with a price.
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DICE HOGG, 29 May 2008 @ 8:46am

DJ MASTER WEB
HE IN LAS VEGAS WAS RUNNING THE SPIN NIGHTCLUB ON FLAMINGO HIM AND VICTORIA THE BITCH I MEAN BARTENDER
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Hrdyboy, 1 Oct 2011 @ 11:22pm

I worked for him at spin night club... That sucka wrote me hella bad checks....whenever I see him... Best believe he is one and done...
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Hrdyboy, 1 Oct 2011 @ 11:24pm

I worked for him at spin night club... That sucka wrote me hella bad checks....whenever I see him... Best believe he is one and done...
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