Facebook awarded $711 Million against spammer case

A man named Sanford Wallace, also known as "The Spam King" has been ordered by a Federal Court to pay Facebook $711 Million for damages caused by spamming. Wallace has been accused of sending a large amount of messages ot Facebook user accounts, enticing users to click on a link that would lead to a third party website, and somehow trick the user into believing the third party website is Facebook. The site asks them to "log back in" to the fake website by entering their Facebook account information. The new information would then be used to send more advertising messages, and more messages luring people to the fake website. This is a common practice known as "Phishing", and is highly unethical, and possibly illegal in many places. 

Spammers. The internet's version of a shady street salesman selling products (of which you're not sure of their origins). Anyone's natural instinct is to ignore or run away from spammers. They seem to be engrained in our minds as untrustworthy, even villainous. How did they become so infamous over the years? How is it that the average internet user can instantly recognize spam when they see it and stay away? Have we received so many mountains of spam over the past decade or so that we know to delete or mark as spam whatever we don't recognize as a legitimate communication via internet? Before the internet, spammers must have been into sales. I think of this guy from Coming to America, an 80's classic, selling stolen wares on the street, using the inside of his coat as a display rack.

I imagine the first spammers probably thought of the idea of sending unsolicited mass mailings to internet users through email when they realized they could sell or promote anything to naive users willing to believe anything they were told in the advent of the internet age. As time went on, I'm sure people caught on the idea of spammers. Still, spammers knew there were still enough fools to open fishy looking emails and click on crazy sounding links. 

At Brightshore, we not only view spamming as highly unethical, but vehemently condemn it. Our philosophy on marketing equals higher returns on investment than someone paying for unethical marketing like spamming. The public will see our clients as legitimate, credible authorities in their field. Our clients will experience more sales, bigger company growth, and higher profits. Social media can be a very powerful means to promote your company, services, and/or products. Contact us today and see how we can help you establish your brand online as a leading company online through social media marketing.