Check out this article from IHUB.
Posted by: JBtrader
In reply to: None Date:12/6/2005 9:30:45 AM
Post #of 803
Read the 7th line,ot that it says anything about XLPI>>BUT>>BY RICHARD J. DALTON JR
STAFF WRITER
December 6, 2005
Spam promoting stocks in "pump-and-dump" schemes is skyrocketing, according to a report to be released today by a security software company.
More than 13 percent of electronic junk mail received by Sophos, an anti-virus and anti-spam company based in Abingdon, England, last month promoted stocks, up from 0.8 percent in the beginning of the year.
The Securities and Exchange Commission also has found a big increase, receiving 618,000 complaints via e-mail in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, double the number of complaints from the previous fiscal year, said John Reed Stark, chief of the SEC's Office of Internet Enforcement. Most of the complaints concern pump-and-dump spam, he said.
Pump-and-dump spam isn't new, but has grown increasingly popular and more sophisticated, said Gregg Mastoras, senior security analyst for Sophos.
The schemers tout stocks, often penny stocks, via unsolicited e-mail sent to millions of people. Once the stock rises in value, the fraudsters sell it and the stock plummets in value.
Joshua Cyr, a Web software executive in Portsmouth, N.H., became so fed up with spam touting stocks that he set up a mock portfolio of 1,000 shares of each stock touted in spam he received so he could track their plunging value. The portfolio, at www.spamstocktracker.com, would have lost nearly half its value - an $8,000 decline - since May, he said.
The connivers sometimes turn to current events to grab readers' attention. One recent e-mail Sophos uncovered claimed that a company had launched a new aerosol disinfectant to prevent the spread of bird flu and SARS.
"We first brought you the news on [the stock] yesterday, and the stock reacted by trading up close to 50 percent with tremendous trading volume," the spam claimed. A chart showed the stock doubling in value - to about 70 cents - in five days.
Once crude e-mails laden with misspellings, the pump-and-dump spam now displays high-end graphics, giving it an air of authority, Mastoras said.
Although many people brush aside spam, the participants in the fraud can make money merely by persuading just a fraction of the millions of recipients to buy the stock, Mastoras said.
"What people would overhear on a bus and not believe, for some reason when it comes across in e-mail ... they believe it much more," Mastoras said.
Experts say people should be skeptical regarding any unsolicited e-mail. "When it comes to spam, you should treat it like you would a flyer under your windshield in a parking garage," Stark said. "Either crunch it up and throw it away or give it to us."
Many follow his recommendation. His office receives 4,000 complaints a day at its e-mail address, enforcement@sec.gov.
Junk e-mail
Number of complaints filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
1996 1,336
1997 9,060
1998 19,505
1999 48,598
2000 55,322
2001 76,977
2002 144,320
2003 179,787
2004 299,420
2005 618,584
2006 209,969*
*Fiscal year began November 2005.
Easy does it lol>>>>>>JB
GB-ND
cris
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