Don't let spammers peddle you into a loss
The Virginian-Pilot
© April 8, 2006
There are a million ways to lose in the stock market.
Buy high, sell low usually works for me.
In all modesty, I think I'm an expert on losing money in the market. I don't have much to invest, but I've managed to pick bad stocks with astonishing consistency through the years.
Here's my technique: I hear about a hot stock. I do a little research. I find that all the "experts" predict stratospheric returns. I buy a couple of shares.
Within 24 hours, the stock crashes. It won't budge up a nickel until the day I sell it.
I'd make more money if I invested in lottery tickets.
And yet, I believe in the stock market. Buying stocks is patriotic. It's a sign that you believe in capitalism and support the American economy.
So what if you lose your skirt? It's only money.
That said, even a small-time loser like me knows better than to act on stock tips that appear - unbidden - in my e-mail. Especially ones that come with this in the subject line:
Infirm mouse knobs
OK, I made that one up. What kind of dopes would send out stupid messages like that if they wanted you to buy shares of stock? Surely, they'd use something more Dow Jonesy sounding. Like these:
Elton a hyperboloidal
Been freakish curd
Nestor may tripod
Gibberish? Yes, but these actual subject lines were cleverly designed to evade computer spam filters.
If the spammers were being honest - and that's not in their nature - they'd call them "Penny Stock Picks." It's all part of a huge Internet scam that prosecutors say is just a high-tech version of the old "pump and dump" scheme.
"They're trying to run up the price of a stock," Virginia Assistant Attorney General Russell McGuire said Friday. Once the stock goes up, the spammer bails out.
For instance, McGuire says a spammer might buy a stock at 50 cents a share, send out millions of e-mails touting the company, then sell as soon as the stock goes up a dollar or two. The new investors - spam recipients - are the big losers.
McGuire knows a thing or two about spam. He prosecuted the first case under Virginia's groundbreaking 2003 Anti-Spam Act.
In November 2004, Jeremy Jaynes of Raleigh, N.C., was convicted in a Loudon Country court of violating the act. He later was sentenced to nine years in prison. Jaynes appealed that decision to the Virginia Court of Appeals last month. A decision will come later.
"Illegal spammers will not be tolerated in Virginia," Attorney General Bob McDonnell sai d at the time of the appeal.
McDonnell also said he was "confident" Jaynes' conviction will stand.
Prosecutors say Jaynes trafficked in several kinds of spam , including stock tips.
That's the beauty of spam. It comes in so many exciting varieties.
In the beginning, spammers peddled Viagra, Cialas and other pharmaceutical wonders. Next, foreigners offered to wire us millions of dollars. Then came bogus offers for free goodies. Gift cards and loan approvals.
All of those scams worried me. I feared that the more trusting souls among us - and say what you will about newspaper people, no one ever calls us trusting - might fall victim to these cyber creeps .
But stock tips? Who buys stocks based on spam?
Don't do it, McGuire warns.
Don't worry. I prefer to lose my money the old-fashioned way.
Reach Kerry at (757) 446-2306 or at kerry.dougherty@cox.net. |
