STOP spamming Facebook !!! - Spammer ordered to pay $1 Billion

Thats a crazy amount of money.

*Canadian $1 billion.

Good luck to him paying that one off.

I don't see anything that indicates whether or not his product was effective.

On a serious note, it is nice to see the publicity, even though the chances of any of that fine ever being paid range from slim to none. If just a few slimy spammers are deterred it will be great. Doubtful, though.

Some insights on how he operate his spam on FB. And he is hoping to convert his notoriety into a book or movie deal.


Adam Guerbuez, seen here in a photo from his website, allegedly sent 4,366,386 spam ads to Facebook users in just two months. (Photo courtesy of adamguerbuez.com) MONTREAL - A Montreal man who sent more than four million spam e-mails to Facebook users over a two-month period was ordered to pay the social media giant more than $1 billion in compensation.

Adam Guerbuez did not admit to sending the spam. But he also did not contest the Sept. 28 Superior Court ruling, which upheld an earlier decision by a U.S. District Court judge in San Jose, Calif.

Guerbuez was fined $100 US for each of the 4,366,386 spam messages that were posted onto Facebook profiles in March and April 2008. With punitive damages and the exchange rate factored in, Guerbuez owes $1,068,928,721.46. He's also barred from opening a Facebook account.
The self-described online marketer says Facebook will have difficulty collecting the sum now that he has filed for bankruptcy.

Facebook says Guerbuez posed as a friend and posted ads for various products on a user's wall, an area of the online profile page where users share website links, pictures and other information.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Lise Fournier wrote in her ruling that the barrage of spam was unprecedented.

"Facebook had never been targeted by as much spam and the method used was particularly efficient given that the spam appeared to be coming from users' friends," the judge wrote last week.

According to Facebook, Guerbuez fooled its users into providing him with their usernames and passwords. One method was the use of fake websites that posed as legitimate destinations.
After Guerbuez gained access to user's personal profiles, he used computer programs to send out millions of messages promoting a variety of products, including marijuana and penis-enlargement products, Facebook said.
Fournier wrote that Guerbuez has earned "very significant revenues" from his online business.

Guerbuez argued that the fine was excessive, adding that spam is nothing more than a nuisance.
"If there's anything that does hit my e-mail box that I didn't ask to receive, I'll simply press the delete button," he said in a statement posted on his website.
"That's what it's on the keyboard for."

Man fined $1B for sending Facebook spam | Canada | News | Toronto Sun


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Facebook calls him a spammer and a U.S. court has fined him US$873 million. But Montreal's Adam Guerbuez doesn't seem to care; he calls himself the US$873 million man and says he won't pay a cent.

Last week, Quebec Superior Court reportedly upheld a November 2008 U.S. judgment against Guerbuez after he was found guilty of sending out more than 4 million penis-enlargement, marijuana and pornographic spam messages via Facebook. It was the largest-ever award under the U.S.'s federal antispam law.

Guerbuez did not respond to a request for comment -- on his blog he said he is being bombarded with media requests -- but earlier this week he told the Canadian Press that he has filed for bankruptcy and doesn't have to pay anything to Facebook.

Instead, he hopes to convert his notoriety into a book or movie deal.
In its court filings, Facebook said Guerbuez stole passwords through phishing attacks and used a botnet of hacked computers to access Facebook accounts without authorization. If true, that would make his actions subject to a criminal prosecution in addition to the civil judgment against him.

But he seems happy with the attention. He has called a press conference for Wednesday and filled his blog with posts that show him living the high life in Las Vegas and Beverly Hills, and dining out at pricey restaurants such as Montreal's Queue De Cheval.

Facebook asked the Canadian court to uphold the U.S. judgment against Guerbuez after he failed to show to fight the charges in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

After the U.S. judgment was upheld, Guerbuez wrote on his website: "I look forward to some solid press as history has been made, yet once again."
Guerbuez seems to be obsessed with his status as the U.S.'s most heavily fined spammer. There is an eerie video on his website of a trophy with a hologram of Guerbuez's head inside it, and a celebratory blog post encouraging media to contact him following his listing in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest fine under the CAN SPAM act. "If you wish to discuss a book deal or film project, you can contact me as well," he wrote.

Facebook Spammer Tries to Cash in on $873 Million Fine - PCWorld Business Center

$873 per each and we'll have the federal budget deficit cleared in less time than it takes to become a bajillionaire via Internet Marketing.

Well, there isn't precedent for that being illegal (assuming you actually do it from your own account ;-0 ). This dude isn't in trouble for spamming some dude's walls. He is in trouble for for basically being a hacker and doing malicious activity.

It seems like a larger percentage of IMers see the headline and all they come up with the conclusion that spamming = illegal, when in reality it has to do with the spam emails in this case. Spam email communications (perhaps PMs...that is up for debate) are just in a different class and are treated so by the law.

So thats where they got the 1billion to fund part of that social network movie :O

haha yea i hate those viagra spam too...