Posted on 05/22/2006 2:16:22 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob
Everyone on the Internet gets a lot of spam. This is my effort to fight back against anonymous people peddling fraudulent stocks to the gullible. I’m going to name names, and encourage these pond scum to come out from the shadows and sue me for “defaming” them.
For more than a year, I have been barraged with stock tips from non-existent people with non-existent return addresses, touting penny stocks that are not on any exchange. Each of these e-mails has an odd subject not referencing stocks, with intent to sneak by e-mail filters. I harvested four days of these. Here are the results.
A typical scam e-mail begins:
Investor Alert - WE HAVE A RUNNER ! Company: China World Trade Corporation Symbol: CWTD.OB Current Price: $1.52 Short Term Target: $2.5 - $3 Recommendation: STRONG BUY Rating: 10 (10)
Take Advantage of the current price on Thursday, we expect to see it begin climbing Friday, Monday and Tuesday in anticipation of the coming news.
Of course, this strong recommendation comes from a non-existent source, “Lawrence Cherry,” with a fictitious subject, “pumice acutely.” Several questions come to mind. Who are the “we” behind this e-mail? If the stock is going to nearly double in the next few days, why don’t the current owners hold the stock and pocket the profits, rather than send e-mails to strangers offering profits?
Besides, I’ve heard of China World Trade in fake e-mails before. About six months as I recall, and always with the same message – get in now, the stock’s going to skyrocket. It reminds me of an earnest young man outside the Metro North Farragut Metro stop in D.C. a while back, carrying a sign that “the world will end on 19 September.” On the 20th of September, the young man was gone. At least he had the integrity to make his prediction in person, and put a date on it, so the results could be checked.
From its marketing by spam e-mails alone, I conclude that China World Trade Corporation is a fraud, and that everyone involved in selling this stock is trying to cheat the unwary out of their hard-earned dollars. The difference between these people and a pickpocket is these folks let you use your own hands.
If those people don’t like my considered opinion, I invite them to sue me. That will smoke them out of their holes, and allow me to counter-sue them for abuse of the Internet and wasting my time to throw away their junk, perhaps two dozen times.
I got the exact same recommendation about CWTC from Louisa Sanchez “calculation;” Jessy Rowland “right-hand man;” and Fred Bishop “amass.”
And now for some other stocks that you should not touch with a ten-foot barge pole.
Abigail Milton, under the title “Being adjust it’s evans,” wrote of offer me a fine opportunity in Deep Earth Resources, Inc., with a “Current Price of $0.008" and a “Short Term Target Price of $0.07.” That’s not a misprint. This stock is less than a penny. Its symbol is DPER.PK. This dog is kenneled in Singapore.
Why is this stock going to “rocket up quickly”? Well, the directors have just “changed the Company name [and] initiated efforts to identify acquisition and joint venture opportunities within the energy sector.” Wow! That’s enough to make me grab for my checkbook. Not.
Again, based on its marketing, I conclude Deep Earth is a fraud, and all associated with its stock sales are swindlers.
Joey Morrison, “deduction oversee,” wrote me to tout HE-5 Resources Corp,, symbol HRRP, price $0.073. This is a “growth-oriented emerging natural resources company.” It “intends to invest ... in mining projects.” This e-mail does contain fine print at the bottom that the unidentified sellers have received four million shares “free” from a “third party not an officer” for their fine services.
It ends with the this caveat, which all these stock e-mails ought to contain. “There is substantial doubt about [the Company’s] ability to continue as a going concern.... Warning: You can lose all your money by investing in this stock.” Because of this caveat, put the peddlers of HRRP down as “honest” swindlers.
Gloria Mckay, “single ruinous,” was also kind enough to write me about the fine opportunities for investing in HRRP. So was David Harrington, “steering deportation.”
Mind you, I don’t suggest any government regulation of the Internet. As the noted scholar Peter Drucker wrote, “Every government program in the 20th Century has achieved the opposite of its intended effect, except for warfare.” Just give us citizens of the Net the right to sue the socks off everyone associated with this spam, including the ISPs that communicate this swill, and we will solve this problem PDQ.
About the Author: John Armor still might be a candidate for Congress in the 11th District of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
That's my nickname.
You'll need to send a self-addressed stamped envelop to...
Oh, don't be silly. If it wasn't true they'd never allow it on the Internet.
Someone must have sold my email to these bastards.
In about two weeks starting three weeks ago, I was receiving 5 to 6 of these scams per day. My blocker seems to sort out most of them and send them to the slow moving trail to be disposed of.
No, signing a hundred or so 8-cent checks every day makes my hand cramp. The other day a downpour ruined them all on my way to the bank.
Well, I know little about the subject, but superficially-
We could call it "The Patriot Fund" or whatever. You give your money to people with financial degrees, and they invest it in a wide array of businesses - not just conservative ones. Much like a 401K I guess.
Then when a company does something like donate to the Jess Jackson/Rainbow Coalition, or sponsers a gay event, etc., we would dump the stock in punishment, no matter its value.
Of course the details would need to be worked out, or else the whole thing would fail abysmally.
I've been getting 10 of these a week for years. Wish there was a way for my service provider to send back everything that comes from that source.
My basic philosophy is that if it comes in spam or junk mail i never buy it no matter what it is. This greatly simplifies things.
Smith and Wesson. SWB.
On email filters, the free email from Yahoo.com has a pretty good bulk mail filter built in. I have used it for years and find it separates out most spam from my real messages.
Oh boy! A company with 200% return in only a short period of time and no risk! ...
</common sense>
</intelligence>
I just cruised over to DrudgeReport... "Sequel Fever: Sony Has Da Vinci II and III".
Perfect example of such a company.
"I've been getting 10 of these a week for years. Wish there was a way for my service provider to send back everything that comes from that source."
I host my email at Lunarpages - its only $7 bucks a month for email and web page and includes many freebies like nearly 100% effective spam filtering.
I get that crap all the time, it goes straight in my spam blacklist folder. But those f-ing creeps keep changing their email addresses, so the spam filter doesn't do much.
Thanx for the info.The only people who make any money off those stocks are the crooks selling them.Read a good article several yrs back about the prevelance of outfits like these hawking stocks of questionable value.Basically con-artists in suits.
Trying to put a stop to such things is a large part of my day in and day out working life.
The scam is called a "pump and dump". What happens is company insiders or associates or scum stock brokerage firms take or acquire a position in a penny stock. Volume on the stock is generated, soometimes with related party trades, sometimes with spam e-mails, and sometimes with the BS "phone messages" that Alberta's Child referred to.
The idea is to get the stock to increase in value by hyping it and making it look like there is an active or growing market (pump) and then when it gets to a certain point, the scammers in the know unload their positions for a tidy profit (dump).
I probably should have made this offer years ago, but if any FReeper is considering investing with an individual or firm that you want checked out, FReepmail me, and I may be able to save you some money. At the very least, I might be able to cut down on my workload downstream.
Amazing how many rotten people there are in the world that do rotten things to other people, just for a few bucks.
Even more dangerous than the spam for penny stocks is the MSM business news spam that is essentially the sell side's propaganda organ.
The best commentary on current markets that I have found is Bill Cara at http://www.billcara.com/
I've followed him for some time and find him excellent. Although like me he's Canadian, he offers insightful commentary on the US markets.
He is also helpful in my area of interest, Canadian junior mines.
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