MySpace Suing Former Spam King Richter
MySpace.com announced yesterday it is suing Scott Richter — a man who was once considered one of the world’s most prolific spammers, but who said he changed his ways in 2005.
The social networking company claimed in a release that Richter and some unnamed associates violated the federal Can-Spam act and California’s anti-spam statute by arranging for millions of spam “bulletins” to be sent from MySpace users’ accounts without their knowledge.
MySpace claims Richter either phished MySpace accounts — tricked users into giving over their account information — or acquired a list of phished accounts to launch spam e-mail campaigns.
MySpace did not respond to a voicemail on its press line asking for a copy of the complaint.
At one time, Richter was considered the world’s third-most prolific spammer.
He settled a high-profile lawsuit with Microsoft in 2005 for $7 million. The settlement was the second deal stemming from joint lawsuits Microsoft and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed against him in December 2003. Previously, Richter agreed to pay New York State $50,000 to settle Spitzer’s suit.
After the settlement with Microsoft, Richter said he changed the way he does business.
Richter is currently CEO of affiliate marketing company Media Breakaway, formerly known as OptInRealBig.com.
He said he hadn’t read MySpace’s complaint and would have no comment until he did so.
