Myspace sues 'Spam King'

Santa Monica (CA) - MySpace, the world’s most popular social networking site, is suing Scott Richter for allegedly sending millions of junk email messages from hacked MySpace accounts. Richter, a self-proclaimed ’Spam King’, is being sued for an undisclosed amount and could face a permanent ban from MySpace.

The suit was filed in Los Angeles U.S. District Court and MySpace is asking for damages under the federal Can-Spam law in addition to California anti-spam laws. MySpace is also asking for a permanent injunction which would prevent Richter and his employees from using MySpace. Richter would also be forced to repay all profits he made from the spam emails.

MySpace says Richter used phishing emails, fake emails asking for usernames and passwords, to gather login information. Allegedly, Richter then used the accounts to send millions of emails selling products.

This is not the first time Richter has been in trouble for sending spam emails. Last year Microsoft hit Richter with a $7 million dollar judgment. After the suit, he changed his company name from OptInRealBig.com to Media Breakaway.

The Can-Spam law looks like it has some teeth and it was just last week that a California man was convicted of sending phishing emails. Jeffrey Goodin now faces up to 101 years in prison.