Legal actions filed against Hotmail, MSN phishers
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft Corp. has initiated 97 lawsuits throughout Europe and the Middle East during its eight-month investigation into fraudulent Web pages, with another 32 criminal complaints filed in cooperation with local authorities, the company said Wednesday. All of the cases are against individuals who attempted to capture the log-in and password details of users by constructing fraudulent Hotmail and MSN.com sign-in pages, said Jean-Christophe Le Toquin, a Microsoft attorney. A total of 253 sites were investigated, he said. Microsoft'sÂ Global Phishing Enforcement program, started in March, aims to curtail fake Web sites built by criminals trying to obtain financial information or passwords by tricking users, so-called âphishing.â The company uses its technology to crawl the Internet to find Web pages that look suspicious, Le Toquin said. Once a phishing site has been identified, Microsoft either files a criminal complaint or forwards the information to prosecutors, depending on the countryâs legal requirements, Le Toquin said. By country, Turkey led the pack with 50 criminal complaints, followed by 28 in Germany and 11 in France. Legal actions were also filed in the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Morocco, the Netherlands and the U.K. Microsoft has settled with four phishers, all 16- to 20-year-old males, in France and Norway, Le Toquin said. Each of those pursued in France paid Microsoft â¬2,000 (US$2,564), a fine the company felt is in proportion to their actions, he said. Many of the fake sites were created by the phishers to trick their peers into divulging their log-in credentials, Le Toquin said. The phishers would try to lure their friends to the fake pages through links sent by instant messaging programs, he said. The purpose was to âtake control of the account of the victim,â Le Toquin said. Microsoft said it will continue its investigation, particularly focusing on phishing sites connected with more sophisticated hacking, Le Toquin said. Â
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SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. filed nine new lawsuits against spammers who send unsolicited e-mail, including an e-mail marketing Web hosting company, the world&#39;s largest software maker said Thursday.
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Challenge/response e-mails accidentally marked as spam by AOL and EarthLink.
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Microsoft and Amazon.com have joined forces against perpetrators of phishing scams, filing a lawsuit against a Canadian company that they say ran a spamming campaign using Microsoft&#39;s Hotmail services and forging Amazon&#39;s name.
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Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) filed seven lawsuits against senders of spam, or unsolicited e-mail, for transmitting messages without labeling them as sexually explicit
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Seattle-area neighbors Amazon.com and Microsoft today announced the filing of several lawsuits in connection with spoofing and phishing scams that deceive consumers and misuse Amazon&#39;s brand name.
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Microsoft, AOL, EarthLink and Yahoo filed three new lawsuits to stop the spread of unsolicited e-mail.
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Anonymous writes &quot;Microsoft Corp. filed nine lawsuits against individuals and companies alleged to be involved in the distribution of spam, the company said Wednesday.
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A volley of lawsuits was launched against alleged spammers on Thursday by the four major US Internet service providers. This includes a case brought by AOL against twenty individuals accused of spimming, or
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Microsoft has filed nine lawsuits against individuals and companies allegedly involved sending out spam, including one suit against a Web hosting company that claimed it was "bulletproof" and couldn't be shut down.
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Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O filed seven  lawsuits against senders of spam, or unsolicited e-mail, for  transmitting messages without labeling them as sexually  explicit content, the world's largest software maker said on  Thursday.
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Microsoft has filed nine new lawsuits against those it says are responsible for spam, including a Web-hosting company that caters to people who send unsolicited e-mail, the software giant said Thursday.
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Microsoft announced today that is filing 7 lawsuits against spammers for failing to label sexually explicit messages. The lawsuits were filed in Washington State Superior Court, alleging that defendants violated
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129 lawsuits Microsoft has initiated 129 lawsuits against phishing fraudsters in EMEA as part of a wider campaign against online fraud.â¦
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Amazon.com, the world&#39;s largest online retailer, and Microsoft, the world&#39;s largest software developer, announced Tuesday the filing of several lawsuits against phishers and spammers.
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Much of the trouble centered on phishing, a type of attack where fake Web pages are constructed to harvest log-in details, credit card numbers or other personal information. And, oh yes, spam is back.
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SEATTLE  - Microsoft Corp.  filed sevenlawsuits against senders of spam, or unsolicited e-mail, fortransmitting messages without labeling them as sexuallyexplicit content, the world's largest software maker said onThursday.