Scam Email: Fanbox.com

Fanbox.com, formerly known as sms.ac, is one of the most annoying and sleaziest spams and misrepresentations going right now.

When you sign up for FanBox, it asks for your permission to email everyone in your address book. After you give them your password (DON'T do it!) it will start spamming everyone in your contact list / address book.  It will send them these stupid ":____ asked you a question" spams.

We've received them here; and verified that the senders had no intention of sending them to us, or "asking" a question. They felt victimized.

Here is the one I received this morning, obviously from someone I know - who likely fell victim to it.

P.S. DON'T CLICK ON ANY LINKS BELOW, they are there just to show you what they look like and I don't want you falling victim to this scam!

From: {name of my friend} [fbNOREPLY@yourfanbox.com]
Received: from [208.69.101.171 helo=smtp171.sms.ac]
To:   {me}
Subject: {name of my friend} shared some photos with you

{name of my friend} shared a new photo slideshow with you View now
http://profile.fanbox.com/DeveloperOptin/BlogROME.aspx?vet=146&mlid=91144420&vlsid=31700&dt=081311&cid=31700&evt=708316703&src=BLOGROMESOCUSTOMTEXT&encemail=Iqknz%2f0G3SFW2CwCgByrpc5jPun6o6yFrpZestLSRCLT1ExbYh%2bq%2fQ%3d%3d&ptid=1584{name of my friend}'s time spent in this site helps fight Children Blood Disorders.To reduce unwanted emails: if you don't respond to (click) emails from any person, all further emails to you from that person are automatically blocked for 24 hours.

To ensure you don't miss anything from {name of my friend} please check your feed
 or inbox
 regularly.This message was intended for {my email address} and was sent as a notification, invitation or reminder (digital goods subject to change in reminders) of an event initiated by {my friend's name} using a third-party or platform application and may contain promotional materials and/or services for sale including digital goods received.To control messages sent to or from you, your contacts and/or FanBox, click here
http://profile.fanbox.com/ApplicationManager/ROMEBlogSettings.aspx?cid=31700&em=Iqknz%2f0G3SFW2CwCgByrpc5jPun6o6yFrpZestLSRCLT1ExbYh%2bq%2fQ%3d%3d&vet=146&mlid=91144420&dt=081311&ptid=1584&aec=-1&tec=-1&pid=31700&sendid=221470708.Our offices are located at: FanBox - 113 West G Street, STE 510, San Diego, CA 92101, USA

Spam King could get 40 years for 27 million Facebook messages

Sanford Wallace has been around for a long time. Ever since I can remember anyone talking about spam. And I've been involved in the internet since the days of Usenet (curses, that'll date me somewhat). He seems to keep at it, no matter what is thrown at him.

There are really so few cases where the authorities actually pursue spammers, so I thought I'd post this. But I wonder if it's more about that Sanford seems to continue to insist on living in the United States. He'd probably be pretty untouchable if he chose a more remote location. And also the authorities maybe wanting us to believe they are actually trying to pursue the massive problem of spamming. Ole' Sanford will be back.

A Las Vegas man accused of sending more than 27 million spam messages to Facebook users faces federal fraud and computer tampering charges that could send him to prison for more than 40 years, according to a grand jury indictment.

Sanford Wallace, the self-proclaimed "Spam King," pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance Thursday after being indicted July 6 on six counts of electronic mail fraud, three counts of intentional damage to a protected computer and two counts of criminal contempt.

The indictment filed in San Jose federal court said Wallace compromised about 500,000 Facebook accounts between November 2008 and March 2009 by sending massive amounts of spam through the company's servers on three separate occasions.

Wallace would collect Facebook user account information by sending "phishing" messages that tricked users of the social networking site into providing their passwords, the indictment said.

He would then use that information to log into their accounts and post spam messages on their friends' Facebook walls, the indictment said. Those who clicked on the link, thinking it came from their friend, were redirected to websites that paid Wallace for the Internet traffic.