Final proof of how stupid people are.
'Virtual' Stock Market Draws Lots of Real Money From Plungers
Roseau, Dominica, Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Stock Generation.com
says it gets $35 million a week by asking visitors to its Web
site a simple question: ''Would you like to double your money
every month?''
The Internet company says hundreds of thousands of people
from more than 50 nations participate in its ''virtual'' online
stock exchange, buying and selling imaginary stocks -- ''the best
investment for your money.''
The Web site, based on the Caribbean island of Dominica,
calls itself a ''game without losers.'' It can point to some
bewildered but happy players. Computer technician Jason Rockey of
Clarkesville, Indiana, for instance, says he wired $3,000 to the
site and now shows an online account balance of $90,000.
''Not too shabby for doing nothing,'' said Rockey's message
in an online forum. ''The way I look at it, it's some gambling
game.'' His big fear is a December collapse if people pull money
out amid concern about the Y2K computer bug.
Securities regulators are less entranced. They call Stock
Generation.com a pyramid scheme, where money from new players
pays off earlier participants. All goes well until cash from
newcomers dries up, they say, and the game collapses.
''It's the perfect scam,'' said Deb Bortner, a securities
regulator in Washington state for 20 years and president-elect of
the North American Securities Administrators Association. She
worries that regulators ''have no access to SG's offshore bank
accounts.'' (more)
www.bloomberg.com
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