Finally, those spam emails claiming to offer large amounts of money if only you’ll act right now have finally paid off… and fairly substantially, for that matter. Yahoo announced yesterday that it had won a $610 million judgment in a lawsuit against several defendants accused of fraud. The defendants had claimed to represent the company’s “Yahoo Internet Lottery,” based in Bangkok, Thailand in an estimated 12 million emails sent out between 2006 and 2009, all tracked by Yahoo. The default judgment in Yahoo’s favor came as a result of the defendants not even bothering to respond to the accusations; according to the company, it was awarded $27 million for trademark infringement, and a further $583 million in statutory damages.
