Yahoo Sues Lottery Spammers
June 30, 2008 by AntivirusWare. - Download Norton Antivirus software instantly!Yahoo has thrown down the gauntlet against spammers and filed suit against a group individuals who sent out e-mails claiming that the recipients won monetary prizes. The e-mails contained links that requested that the recipients forward personal information to get their prize. The group of spammers masqueraded as yahoo and sent the e-mails under the fictitious Yahoo Lottery Coordinator byline.
Some of the recipients were instructed to pay hundreds of dollars in various processing and mailing charges to complete the payment process. Other recipients just had their personal information stolen. Yahoo stated in their lawsuit that not only do they have no affiliation with the spammers, but they do not offer any such prizes.
The actual identities of the defendants are currently unknown, but Yahoo believes that the information that will be uncovered from a third party e-mail service provider will lead to their identification. Not only is Yahoo seeking damages from the unknown defendants, but they are aiming to put a stop to their practices as well.
The lawsuit filed by Yahoo comes on the heels of a federal judge ordering another spammer to pay MySpace $230 million in damages after a spamming attack. In the past, service providers have a hard time suing spammers because it was difficult ever tracking the perpetrators down.