Yahoo sues over lottery phishing scam
Yahoo has filed suit against unnamed "lottery spammers" who tried to fool people into thinking that they won a prize from Yahoo so they'd share passwords, credit card numbers, or other sensitive information.
The Internet company on Tuesday said it filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, citing the Federal Trademark Act, the Can-Spam Act, and related state laws.
"The unauthorized use of Yahoo's trademarks is misleading, fraudulent, and has actually confused, misled, and deceived the public," Joe Siino, Yahoo's senior vice president for global intellectual property and business strategy, said in a statement.
According to Barracuda Networks, 90 percent to 95 percent of e-mail sent in 2007 was spam. Phishing, one activity associated with spam, involves sending e-mail masquerading as authentic messages designed to fool users into parting with personal information.
Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank. 
I refuse to read or even respond to spam, much less make a purchase based on something I received from a spammer.
Why would anyone in their right mind use spam as a means to advertise.
Just wasted money if you ask me.
I refuse to read or even respond to spam, much less make a purchase based on something I received from a spammer.
Why would anyone in their right mind use spam as a means to advertise.
Just wasted money if you ask me.
When I received my first computer a year ago, I established my first email with Yahoo. Over the years I had heard the name many times and I thought I was doing a good thing. Until the next day, and the next, and the next.
I started receiving emails for offers of persons and products that would do "amazing things". I had not given my email address to anyone I knew and yet I was suddenly Miss Popular with with a bunch of deviants whose site I had never nor would ever visit. I deleted all the emails and decided to use another email service.
Several months later I checked back at Yahoo. I was amazed to see 125 of those same type of emails. However, by this time I had learned how to tag an email as junk/spam and block the sender.
How did all these people know my email address so quickly? Certainly I had a security center with a spam blocker. It appeared it also was caught off guard.
I have not used Yahoo email since and I cringe whenever someone tells me their email address is xxxxxx@Yahoo.com!
Geez people....WAKE UP!!!
- by benjaminstraight July 24, 2008 4:00 AM PDT
- Good for Yahoo, go after them.
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