Rosy, I'm not sure (and JT will correct me if I'm wrong), but I believe JT had a little something like this in mind, not what you stated:
From Money Daily:
Investors applauded Wednesday as the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, in 23 separate actions, charged 44 individuals and
companies with committing securities fraud over the Internet.
The action is the most comprehensive the SEC has taken since it
began policing cyberspace in 1995. The agency, says John Stark,
head of the SEC's internet enforcement unit, is now pursuing "a
well-defined and programmatic approach to addressing internet
fraud. We are specifically going after the online newsletters,
people who tout stocks, especially poorly followed and thinly
traded micro caps, on message board postings, and in so-called
investing websites."
...
Richard Walker, SEC director of enforcement, said those charged
had touted 235 microcap companies: "Not only did they lie about
their own independence, some of them lied about the companies they
featured, then took advantage of any quick spike in price to sell
their shares for a fast and easy profit."
The charges covered several phony practices, most of them familiar
cons used elsewhere before the Web became popular:
...
2) Pumping and Dumping: Masquerading as independent experts, some
of the accused allegedly recommended stocks on public message
boards such as the top-rated (and legitimate) Silicon Investor
site to generate demand, and then sold the stocks as eager
investors bid up the price.
3) Touting: Some of those fingered by the SEC allegedly shilled
for companies by recommending their stocks for a fee, a
relationship they did not disclose to their readers.
4) Scalping: Scalpers allegedly bought a stock, then recommended
it through Internet newsletters and investment sites without
disclosing their ownership position, then sold the shares as the
price rose.
...
Indeed, the proliferation of investing sites, online newsletters
and discussion forums has transformed the way many people gather
information when mulling investments. On one hand, the legitimate
news and information sites give the small investor ready access to
the kind of detailed, expert information that was once the domain
of brokerage houses and their biggest clients. The Motley Fool and
Silicon Investor (www.siliconinvestor.com), for example, have
become essential investment resources for many individuals,
Con artists fed on this investment hunger, pretending to be
ordinary investors in some discussion groups, or masquerading as
independent experts with their own websites.
Most of the frauds identified by the SEC concern shares of small
firms listed on the NASD OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB), a National
Association of Securities Dealers quotation service for "unlisted
securities" that are not actually traded over the counter or on
any of the three major U.S. stock exchanges. The OTCBB lists about
7,000 securities of small corporations, some with little or no
operating business. There are no requirements for listing,
although the NASD has proposed minimum qualifying standards. |
