Do you get Stock pump and dumps in your email?
 

Operation Spamalot went into affect today

WASHINGTON ? U.S. federal regulators suspended trading in 35 companies Thursday in a crackdown on spam e-mail sent by unknown market manipulators who profit from a rise in the share price of thinly traded companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it took the action to protect investors from fraud, because the accuracy of information in e-mails about the spammed companies was questionable.

E-mails with messages such as ?Ready to Explode,? ?Ride the Bull? and ?Fast Money? clog people's inboxes ? an estimated 100 million of them a week ? and spark dramatic spikes in trading and stock prices before the spamming stops and investors lose their money, the SEC said.

The suspensions are part of an SEC effort called ?Operation Spamalot,? and will remain in effect through March 21.

The companies' shares are not traded on stock exchanges. They are listed on the so-called Pink Sheets, an electronic quotation service in which brokers posting quotations to buy or sell stocks are not required to investigate the background of the companies.

The use of spam e-mail to hype stocks is a variation on the classic pump-and-dump stock scheme, in which the perpetrators get people to buy stocks to inflate their prices and then sell their blocks of shares at a profit. Ordinary investors can suffer heavy losses when prices tank.

?When spam clogs our mailboxes, it's annoying. When it rips off investors, it's illegal and destructive,? SEC chairman Christopher Cox said at a news conference in Washington. ?Today's trading suspensions, and actions that will follow, should send a clear message to spammers: the SEC will hold you accountable.?

SEC officials said the investigation continues and they are seeking to identify people behind the schemes.

?We are ... committed to tracking down those who prey on investors with false or misleading information,? said Linda Thomsen, the agency's enforcement director.

In one case cited by the SEC, shares of Apparel Manufacturing Associates Inc. closed at 6 cents (U.S.), on trading volume of 3,500 shares on Friday, Dec. 15. After a weekend spam campaign, trading on the following Monday reached 484,568 shares and the stock climbed to more than 19 cents a share. Two days later, on Dec. 20, it hit 45 cents a share. By Dec. 27, Apparel Manufacturing stock was down to 10 cents on volume of 65,350.

In addition to Apparel Manufacturing, the companies are: Advanced Powerline Technologies Inc., America Asia Petroleum Corp., Amerossi International Group Inc., Asgard Holdings Inc., Biogenerics Ltd., China Gold Corp., CTR Investments & Consulting Inc., DC Brands International Inc., Equal Trading Inc., Equitable Mining Corp., Espion International Inc., Goldmark Industries Inc., GroFeed Inc., Healtheuniverse Inc., Interlink Global Corp., Investigative Services Agencies Inc., iPackets International Inc., Koko Petroleum Inc., Leatt Corp., LOM Logistics Inc., Modern Energy Corp., National Healthcare Logistics Inc., Presidents Financial Corp., Red Truck Entertainment Inc., Relay Capital Corp., Rodedawg International Industries Inc., Rouchon Industries Inc., Software Effective Solutions Corp., Solucorp Industries Ltd., Sports-stuff.com Inc., UBA Technology Inc., Wataire Industries Inc., WayPoint Biomedical Holdings Inc. and Wineco Productions Inc.

© Copyright The Globe and Mail

all day every day

yea me too. sometimes I think of even buying them to catch the early wave and maybe profit from them also lol

has anyone ever bought one?

Dave:)

you need to find out what to buy before it gets mailed out

we can chat this weekend about it:)


hehe jk

samp!!!!!!!!!

I've always wondered if there was a way to profit from that, if you're email is in the beginning of the list and you buy and then sell off before it tanks, that would rock. But to answer your question, I've been getting these spams for ages, to my email, my blackberry, everywhere.
WG