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Facebook "spam king" turns himself in to authorities

A man charged with sending around 27 million Facebook messages has given up the chase and handed himself in to FBI agents in California, according to officials. Sanford Wallace faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years, but has been released on bail.

According to BBC News, Mr Wallace developed a program which would post links on people's Facebook walls that appeared to be from the victim's friends. The system allowed him to gain access to around half a million Facebook accounts using an external site. A redirect to an affiliate site allowed him to earn "substantial revenue" from his actions.

The offense isn't the first time Mr Wallace has found himself in hot water. Following a 2009 court case, a judge ruled that Mr Wallace was barred from accessing Facebook, an order which prosecutors say was repeatedly breached. Previously, Mr Wallace was also in court over spamming messages to users of MySpace. The civil case took place in 2008, and Wallace lost.

Mr Wallace is being charged with three counts of intentional damage to a protected computer, six counts of electronic mail fraud and two counts of criminal contempt. Mr Wallace denies the charges, and has paid $100,000 to be released on bail.

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