Investment Scams, Part Three
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008
The internet is set up in such a way that it’s very easy for people to gather around a common interest that they all share and form communities. The form that these communities take is typically that of a message board, or bulletin board. These are websites where users can sign up and engage in discussions on a variety of topics pertaining to their interest. So, for example, on an investing bulletin board, most of the discussions would revolve around investing.
Bulletin Boards And Scams
The internet puts us in contact with a lot more people in a given day than we would have in the course of a regular day offline. Because of this, the ratio of questionable encounters to good encounters increases quite sharply. Nowhere is this more abundantly clear than on online bulletin boards. While there might be a handful of contributors on most bulletin boards who know what they’re talking about and are there to dispense genuine advice and conversation, many people view bulletin boards as just another place to find a mark.
It stands to reason that when investors get together and talk, there’s going to be some advice given, or “hot tips” passed around. Scam artists take advantage of this by appearing to be “just one of the guys” and offering what seems like a friendly stock tip. In reality, this is a pump and dump scheme, designed to make lots of people invest in a stock, spike its value, and let the scam artists walk away with bundles.
Use Your Common Sense
Of course, bulletin boards do contain valuable and legitimate information from time to time. Not every stock tip you see mentioned on a bulletin board is a scam in the making, but you have to use your common sense. Just as in real life, you’d be wary about taking a tip from a stranger, treat people on the internet the same way. As you spend time online, remember that all those usernames represent someone who exists in reality. Observe their reactions and get a real feel for their character before you decide to believe anything they say.
See you next week for part 4 of Investment Scams
Sean Rasmussen
The Bullhunters Guide
Universal Wealth Creation © 2004 - 2008
Ever hear of those “fantasy sports” leagues? People meet up on websites or even in person to build their own fantasy sports team comprised of all their favorite team members from all the various teams throughout the actual league. Then, every time a game is played in real life, the performance of the players who are involved in each person’s fantasy team are evaluated and an overall value is given to each fantasy team. At the end of the season, the fantasy team that contains the most valuable players is announced as the winning team.
Letting go is one of the most important lessons to learn in the stock market. The fact is that you’re going to pick some duds over the course of your career as an investor, and when you do, you need to just forget about them and move on. If you’re constantly looking backwards and dwelling on your mistakes and whether or not they were really as bad of mistakes as you thought they were will prevent you from doing what every 
