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Date Posted: 00:30:03 08/05/05 Fri
Author: Busted
Subject: Stock scams on the rise

"Over the last six months, we’ve seen medication and mortgage spam retain their notorious ranking atop the spam charts, while unsolicited pornography, though still accounting for about 10% of all spam, is slipping downward," said Gregg Mastoras, senior security analyst at Lynnfield-based, Sophos. "The most interesting development, however, is the increased volume of stock scam spam, representing a new financial threat to somewhat naïve online investors."

Sophos’s analysis shows that, during the first half of 2005, the volume of stock scam spam has increased at an average rate of 10% per month.

"The purpose behind the pump-and-dump stock racket is to quickly and cheaply disperse false information about a company’s stock, along with information obtained from recent press releases, to potential investors via email," Mastoras explained. "Typically targeting microcap companies stock, once these fraudsters dump their shares, and then stop advertising the stock, the price often falls, and investors ultimately lose their cash."

Pump-and–dump campaigns tend to run for short durations, keeping overall volume low. Even though some of the information provided is accurate, the deceptive and unsolicited nature of the messages qualifies them as spam. The majority of stock scam spam campaigns employ obfuscation techniques, using word variations such as "st0ck" or "stox" to avoid being caught by spam filters. Messages can arrive in many different formats, such as HTML or plain text, and are almost always sent via hijacked PCs known as zombies.

"Social engineering through email, where scam artists take advantage of unsophisticated computer users, is on the rise and represents a dangerous trend," said Brian Burke, IDC Research Manager. "Stock scams, combined with traditional phishing techniques, can result in significant financial loss for victims of these swindles."

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