Sanford Wallace aka the ‘Spam King’ Photo: Associated Press

A man dubbed the ‘Spam King’ after sending 27 million messages to Facebook users is facing a possible prison sentence and hefty fine.

Sanford Wallace, 47, posted unsolicited messages on people’s Facebook walls after getting their passwords through phishing scams.

In total he accessed 500,000 accounts after tricking users into giving him their passwords.

He then used that information to log into their accounts and post spam messages on their friends’ Facebook walls, according to the indictment.


Wallace used the servers of Facebook, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, to send the messages in 2008 and 2009 Photo: Olivier Douliery/ABACAUSA.com

Those who clicked on the link, thinking it came from a friend, were redirected to websites that paid Wallace for the Internet traffic.

He also admitted to violating a court order to not access Facebook’s computer network.



Previously Wallace spammed Myspace in 2008 winning the company $234 million in a case brought against him and his partner Walter Rimes over junk messages sent to the social network’s users.

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He was released on bond to be sentenced on December 7. He faces a sentence of up to three years and a possible fine of $250,000.

Wallace’s lawyer William Burns is yet to comment on the plea.