Stock Spam

Pinksheets often shows public companies a warning to investors stating that the stock has 'unsolicited quotes only'. It tells investors that they should be aware that no firm is making a market in the specific stock listed on the Pink Sheets. All prices reflect unsolicited customer orders and investors may have a difficult time selling the stock. What are Unsolicited Stocks? When you receive a spam e-mail or fax regarding a company’s stock, you should know right away that someone wants you to buy this stock. When you receive such stock spam, you should exercise extreme caution. The chances are that there may be very little current information publicly available about the company that you can review before making an informed ... [read full story]

In the beginning stock spam was just simple text. Shortly after, email spam filters adapted to block that. Then spammers started to use html. Again, spam filters adapted to block that. Then spammers started to use images. Spam filters adapted to block that. Then spammers started to use PDF attachments. Spam filters are adapting for that right now. And now spammers are starting to use Office files (.XLS Spam). Stock Spam Example ... [read full story]

As an investor, you must be aware of the stock market scams. The following are two of the most common stock scams. The Pump and Dump The pump and dump is one of the easiest and most common ways of taking money away from unsuspecting investors. Although it is illegal, the use of the pump and dump has actually increased because the Internet has made it possible to reach millions more people. Here’s how the pump and dump works: First, company insiders try to convince outsiders to buy a stock, usually the stock of a small over-the-counter company (Pinksheets, OTCBB). Investors are led to believe that this is a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to make a small fortune. ... [read full story]

If you feel like your inbox is suddenly overrun with spam again, you are right. Not long ago, there seemed hope that spam had passed its prime. Just last December, the Federal Trade Commission published an optimistic state-of-spam report, citing research indicating spam had leveled off or even dropped during the previous year. Instead, it now appears spammers had simply gone back to the drawing board. There's more spam now than ever before. In fact, there's twice as much spam now as opposed to this time last year. And the messages themselves are causing more trouble. About half of all spam sent now is "image spam," containing server-clogging pictures that are up to 10 times the size of traditional text ... [read full story]

The biggest difference between a microcap stock and other stocks is the amount of reliable, publicly available information about the company. Larger public companies file reports with the SEC that any investor can get for free from the SEC's website. Professional stock analysts regularly research and write about larger public companies, and it's easy to find their stock prices in the newspaper. In contrast, information about microcap companies can be extremely difficult to find, making them more vulnerable to investment fraud schemes. Smaller companies "those with less than $10 million in assets" generally do not have to file reports with the SEC. But some smaller companies, including microcap companies, may choose voluntarily to register their securities with the SEC. Many of the ... [read full story]