[LINK] stock spam a valid business model

[Kim Holburn]

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn9556-crime-pays-for-stock- 
spammers.html

> Crime pays for 'stock spammers'
>
>     * 10:00 15 July 2006
>     * From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free  
> issues
>
>
> PLENTY of gullible people fall prey to stock spammers, according to  
> a survey of stocks promoted in spam emails.
>
> When Rainer Bohme of Dresden Technical University and Thorsten Holz  
> at the University of Mannheim, both in Germany, tracked the value  
> of these stocks last year, they found that, on average, they became  
> twice as popular and increased in value by about 2 per cent in the  
> days after being advertised in bulk emails.
>
> The spammers buy stocks at low prices, and promote them in spam  
> emails to raise the price before selling them off. The trick  
> appears to work. "If the researchers are right, it means that  
> criminals have a valid business model," says Bruce Schneier, a  
> security expert based in Mountain View, California.
>
> "It's interesting that people base financial decisions on non- 
> credible sources," Bohme says.


http://www.informationweek.com/industries/showArticle.jhtml? 
articleID=184429751
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/72003

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Kim Holburn
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