Earlier this week the social networking company Facebook started a lawsuit against the alleged high profile hijackers and spammers. Among the defendants there are Jeremi Fisher, Philip Porembski, and Ryan Shimeall along with Choko Systems, Harm, Inc., and iMedia Online Services, LLC, three firms associated with the alleged spammers.

The company filed the lawsuit which charges the criminals of "phishing Facebook users and sending spam from their accounts".

The defendants face charges of violations against the CAN-SPAM Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the California Anti-Phishing Act, and the California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.

The legal action, lodged on Monday, is part of Facebook's ongoing fight against spam. Previously legal actions have resulted in the award of $711m in damages against Sanford 'Spamford' Wallace. In November 2008, Facebook won a $873m judgment against Adam Guerbuez and Atlantis Blue Capital.