Spammer to Pay $7 Million to Microsoft

Microsoft Corp. has won a $7-million settlement from a man once billed as one of the world’s most prolific spammers.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker heralded the deal as a coup in the continuing fight against unsolicited commercial e-mails, known as spam. Microsoft said the money from Scott Richter and his company, OptInRealBig.com, would be used to boost efforts to combat spam and other computer misuse.

“People engage in spam to make money,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s chief counsel. “We have now proven that we can take one of the most profitable spammers in the world and separate him from his money. And I think that sends a powerful message to other people who might be tempted to engage in illegal spam.”

The deal is the second stemming from joint lawsuits that Microsoft and New York Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer filed in December 2003, after Microsoft set “spam traps” that netted some 8,000 messages containing 40,000 fraudulent statements. The lawsuits sought as much as $20 million in fines against members of a sprawling spam ring.

In the settlement announced Tuesday, Richter and his company agreed to comply with federal and state laws, including the federal Can Spam Act.

He also agreed to let authorities monitor the business for three years to make sure it does not send any illegal spam.

Attorneys for Richter and OptInRealBig.com, a Westminster, Colo.-based Internet marketing company, did not immediately return calls for comment.

Richter was once ranked as the world’s third-most prolific spammer. Microsoft said his business sent an estimated 38 million spam messages a year.