Yahoo Sues Lottery Spammers

Filed in archive Spam News on May 29, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Yong Hian Lim

Yahoo has filed suit against a group of scammers. The spam mails claimed the recipent had won a lottery run by Yahoo. In reality there is no Yahoo sponsored lottery and anyone who tried to claim the bogus prize had their personal information stolen and was ripped off for hundreds of dollars in "processing fees".

"The unauthorized use of Yahoo's trademarks is misleading, fraudulent, and has actually confused, misled, and deceived the public," said Joe Siino, senior vice president of Yahoo global intellectual property and business strategy, in a statement on Tuesday.

The identities of the scammers are unknown, but Yahoo claims to have information that will help them track them down for prosecution. The company is seeking an unspecified amount in damages. It is very unlikely they will actually succeed in winning any money, however.