Facebook spammer has to pay big money

Facebook has won the court battle against Sanford Wallace, one of the spammers who obtained access to people’s accounts and used them to spam their friends. He is supposed to pay back $711 million, but even Facebook know this will never happen, for Wallace has filed for bankruptcy. Even if he didn’t, it’s hard to imagine spamming being such a lucrative endeavor.

The Facebook team announced on the company’s official blog that what it is really hoping for is to win a separate case – one that would see the spammer go to jail, and they think that would serve as a deterrent for other criminals thinking about following in Wallace’s footsteps.

Adam Arzoomanian and Scott Shaw (the other two spammers) have been spared this time, since the company may in the end choose not to file charges. It all depends on this final court decision – it seems that the social network wants to make an example, and can be satisfied with one.