So-called pump-and-dump share scams are on the rise, according to Computing magazine. Speculators and spammers co-operate to boost a given share and then sell out their holding as suckers pile in to buy stock in the company. The article reports:
The stock value of a company targeted by a spam campaign rose 12 per cent in a single day, according to security experts.
Sophos, an anti-virus software company, reckons that emails like this account for 15 per cent of all spam. Unfortunately, these kinds of scams are difficult to stop and can lead to painful losses for innocent investors.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we say “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
See Get Safe Online’s main site for more information about online fraud and blocking unwanted (spam) email.
