Yahoo! sets law loose on the spammers again

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 28 May 2008 03:19

Business IT - Security

Spammers beware - Yahoo! is back in the courts taking legal action against those involved in phishing attacks on its users. But is the web giant fighting a losing battle?

The latest complaint, filed in New York, uses the Federal CAN-SPAM and Trademark Acts as well as related state laws to go after people making false representations about a lottery supposedly operated by Yahoo!.

The scheme attempts to trick recipients into believing they have won a prize in order to induce them to provide personal information that can then be used for identity fraud.

Furthermore, some victims have allegedly been induced to send money for processing and mailing charges associated with their 'prizes'.

"The unauthorized use of Yahoo!'s trademarks is misleading, fraudulent, and has actually confused, misled, and deceived the public. Yahoo! will vigorously enforce its intellectual property rights and will not tolerate lottery hoax emails," said Joe Siino, senior vice president, Yahoo! global IP and business strategy.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is; think at least twice before acting on unsolicited emails and look for clues about their provenance; you can't win a competition that you didn't enter; and reputable businesses take care of the delivery of any prize you do win.

Who is winning the spam war?

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