| Junk email, spam, is getting worse than ever. Even | | | | dump their shares, and then stop advertising the |
| with an anti-spam filter, some junk emails that show | | | | stock, the price often falls, and investors ultimately |
| up in the inbox are disgusting, deceptive, and aimed | | | | lose their cash. |
| to con you out of your money. In addition to | | | | What to do if you get spammed? How not to |
| traditional spam emails promoting medication, | | | | become a victim of stock scams? |
| mortgage, pornography, new ones such as stock | | | | The first thing you can to protect yourself against |
| scams are growing. The deceptive and unsolicited | | | | stock scams on the Internet and against spam on |
| nature of these e-mails qualifies them as spam. Stock | | | | the whole is to setup an anti-spam filter, which will |
| scams, combined with traditional spam techniques, | | | | filter your messages before you receive them into |
| can cause a significant financial loss to victims of | | | | your inbox. Most pump-and-dump spam emails contain |
| these swindles. | | | | the words like "stock", "invest", "investor reports". |
| You might have noticed that many spams are touting | | | | But to bypass spam filters, spammers can use the |
| a particular stock. These touts are sometimes made | | | | variations of the word "stock" such as "st0ck" or |
| as part of a Pump and Dump scheme. | | | | "stox". So, if your inbox is flooded with penny stock |
| Pump-and-dump scams are email campaigns which | | | | tip, ignore it. Delete it. Do not believe anyone who |
| encourage people to invest in a particular company's | | | | tells you, "Invest quickly or you will miss out on a |
| stock, in order to quickly inflate its value and enable | | | | once-in-a lifetime opportunity." Just don't go thinking |
| the spammers to make a fast profit. It is thought | | | | this is your big chance to hit pay-dirt. It is sounds too |
| that these scams take place unbeknown to the | | | | good to be true. The only ones profiting from these |
| company involved... | | | | "spam e-mail tips" are the senders themselves - in |
| The purpose of the pump-and-dump stock spam is | | | | this case spammers. The history of the stock market |
| to quickly and cheaply disperse false information | | | | has shown that the best and most trusted way to |
| about a company's stock, along with information | | | | build wealth is to invest in high-quality businesses with |
| obtained from recent press releases, to potential | | | | excellent growth opportunites. Investigate before |
| investors. Usually this is a slimly traded stock on a | | | | you invest. Find out who sent the message to you. |
| small exchange for only pennies a share. By implying | | | | Ask whether the claims can be documented. Verify |
| that recipients of spam emails are in possession of | | | | whether the claims are true before you send a nickel |
| privileged information - such as news of an acquisition | | | | of your money. But if you yielded to temptation and |
| before a general announcement - spammers seek to | | | | became a victim of a stock scam, you can hire a |
| persuade the gullible into purchasing particular stocks. | | | | lawyer to try to get your money back, but you need |
| If a significant enough number of easily-led individuals | | | | to know that recovery is rare. Just remember that |
| invest in the touted stock, a spammer can ramp up | | | | the best protection is to take no action and stay |
| the share price so that existing shareholders can sell | | | | away from bad deals in the first place. |
| their shares at a profit. But when the fraudsters | | | | |