Yahoo! awarded 610 million dollars from spammers

The American courts have condemned spammers for their activities, awarding Yahoo! 610 million dollars in damages following the organisation of a fake lottery using their brand-name.

In 2008, Yahoo! filed legal action in the United States against a group of spammers for implicating them in a lottery scam.

Using unsolicited emails, these spammers attempted to make internet users believe that they had won a lottery with a prize being offered by Yahoo! This lottery had absolutely nothing to do with Yahoo! though.

Yahoo! has today been awarded 610 million dollars in damages following the sentencing of the spammers, with 27 million dollars being awarded in damages and interest and for violating a trademark, and 583 million for violating United States anti-spam laws.

Lottery scams have been around for a long time. They trick internet users into providing personal information like passwords, social security numbers and banking details. There have even been documented cases where winners are sent money to cover the costs of their expenses.

The scam is made more credible with the use of a valid company name like Yahoo! or Microsoft, another company that has been used in the past.