(Image Source: Inquisitr)
BY JJ BAILEY
Congratulations! You’ve won a lottery hosted by Yahoo! Ok … so, you didn’t enter a lottery, but you’re so special you didn’t need to. That’s the message 11-and-a-half million people got between 2006 and 2009. Now, it looks like Yahoo won a big chunk of cash of its own after a federal judge handed down a ruling against internet scammers. Here’s CNN.
“Yahoo has been awarded $610 million in damages from Thai and Nigerian scammers. Those people reportedly sent 11.6 million emails telling people they had won a lottery run by Yahoo.”
CNET explains how the actual scam worked.
“The messages were designed to trick recipients into providing their bank and other information to claim the “award,” and the consumer information could then be sold, according to Yahoo’s statement. In some instances, the “winners” were also deceived into sending the spammers money for processing and mailing charges...”
Yahoo! alleged the scammers -- people and corporations -- were from Thailand or Nigeria. Just a few now remain. CNN Money breaks down the penalties.
“The court awarded Yahoo $50 per scam email, a total of $583 million, for its victimization through violations of the Can-Spam Act.”
The balance of the penalties stem from trademark infringement. Scammers used Yahoo’s logo -- a big no-no.
So, has justice has been served? Well, at least -- in spirit. Infoworld notes, these are Internet scammers. They just disappear into the ether.
“It’s not clear whether Yahoo will be able to collect the money. A default judgment is rendered when defendants in a case fail to plead or defend an action, as happened in this case, in which the defendants never responded to Yahoo’s complaint. ‘Defendants have never responded in this action or appeared before the Court, much less cooperated with the Court,’ the judge wrote in her decision.”
The other question -- will this judgement slow down future email scammers? Doubtful. CNET surveyed 5,000 people. 113 admitted to losing money to internet fraud in the last year. 27% more expected to be a future victim of an online scam.
