Slashdot Mirror
SEC Lifts Ax For Minnesota Stock-Price Spammer
thejuggler writes "A call to Samuel Meltzer's St. Paul home is greeted with the message that he doesn't want to be bothered by solicitations. But, this story in a Minneapolis newspaper tells how the Feds and SEC claim he is a huge spammer. They claim he sends out spam spreading false and misleading information about various penny stocks. So far he has made at least $159,600 in stock and cash from 1998-2001 for spreading this false information. In a brief interview Tuesday, Meltzer (The evil spammer), 37, said he hadn't seen the complaint. "This is a surprise," he added."
Shouldn't that be the alleged evil spammer? Come on, even spammers are innocent until proven guilty.
I mean, who is stupid enough to make serious investment decisions based on unsolicited email? Is there something I'm missing here? Somebody explain this to me!
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
If you bring any moral charges against him, it will be like talking to a brick wall. He's already rationalized it all away in his own mind. Even though he will often bring the very same moral charges against other people, he will defend (or deny) his own actions down to the last detail.
It's called "hypocrisy". We all do it. However, when this guy does it, it's just a little more annoying.
...just my 2 gil.
is this posted in the wrong thread, or are you trying to hint that fair use protects people from securities fraud? I hope it's not the latter, because that would be one of the single dumbest things I have ever heard in my life.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
Your point about this particular pump-and-dump being the tip of an iceberk of OTCBB "pink sheet" abuse is well-made.
From where I sit, the sad part is that the SEC generally isn't geeked out about spam. It comes down to resources.
I mean, anyone can Google for meltzer stock spammer and find piles of stuff.
A cursory reading of ROKSO reveals this particular ring has a record going back to 1997, including death threats. (Cripes, this is the ETMP spammer from 199teyfucking7!)
Why the hell does it take SIX GODDAMN YEARS to take down one pump-and-dump dirtball?
And he's just one of dozens.
Stock fraud continues because justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.
A six-year delay between the start of the scam and the SEC finally issuing a "Stop breaking the law, or we'll make you sign a consent decree wherein you don't admit to guilt but promise not to break the law in the future" is unacceptable.
It's unacceptable because it's not just useless - it's worse than useless - it's practically an invitation to dirtballs from around the world to get into the fraud business, because by the time the SEC actually catches onto the scam, the scammed money has either left the country or has been laundered.
If anyone from HomeSec is reading this - hook up with some SEC folks. Fund them. Fund the hell out of them. Because if even a tenth of the pump-and-dump scams are being used for money laundering (as opposed to mere fraud), you've got one hell of a conduit for drug money and/or terror money, and the SEC's Enforcement Division as currently set up, clearly doesn't have the resources to stop it.
My nose rankles at my use of the word "mere" to describe stock fraud - but it's a reflection of reality, which is that the government doesn't give a fuck about "mere" fraud, because it's only the serfs getting ripped off, and the dumb serfs at that. So to hell with the serfs. It's no excuse for being blind to the the opportunity for money laundering (perhaps more precisely, the opportunity to camouflage money laundering) brought on by continual, ongoing pump-and-dump stock fraud operations. And honestly, maybe that is more HomeSec's bailiwick than the SEC's. But the two organizations definitely need to start sharing data, and they need to start now.
That there are mail servers bouncing mail from *.cn and *.br is a start, but think of it, what if the 'net at large just said that these people don't exist? It's true that it blocks the innocent users as well, but think of the domino effect: innocent users on foobar.com.br can't read google, bitches at sysadmin, threatens attrition (or just simply votes with his feet and moves to foobaz.com.br). Management sees bottom line, asks why, sysadmins say people are moving off because they can't talk to the 'net through them. Management *theoretically* investigates why and determines the reason they are no longer on the 'net is because they let a spammer sign a pink contract with them and people gave him the Internet Death Penalty.
So yeah, it's a nasty way to go, but it closes another door and tells the rogue admins that we ain't gonna take it no more.
This sig no verb.
Boiler Room and you'll get a good idea of how penny stock scams work.
I don't think you accurately measure the damage this guy has done. He made $160k. Not much on the Enron/Worldcom Pimping Scale (TM), I agree. But in order for him to make a buck, a certain stock has to be pumped up with the hard-won cash of countless small investors. These people collectively lost much more than $160k when the bastard dumped the stocks.
It's not a zero-sum game. Like most other criminal activity, each dollar of illicit profit is actually creating tens of dollars of damage. So we're talking millions of destroyed wealth here.
Also, don't forget that countless other shitbags would be thinking twice before attempting pump-and-dump schemes now thanks to this deterring case.
Be thankful to the SEC that they finally condescend to catch the kind of miserable bastards that defraud the small people, instead of devoting all its time licking the wounds of multi-billion investors.
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Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Any network messaging medium is vulnerable to abuse by spammers. The problem started with Netnews, it continued with e-mail, it's happening now with instant messaging. We need at least high level solution that helps solve the problem regardless of prototcol.
...and most of all...
So, how do you get the word to motivate people to act on this mushrooming problem? One way that I can think of is by giving them a new way to think about it. Relate it to something that they understand...
Spam is not junk mail.
Spam is litter on the information superhighway.
Its trash. Pure and simple trash that gets in the way of people communicating with each other. And pretty soon this garbage will be everywhere. On the sides of roads, in the streets, in our driveways. We won't be able to go anywhere because of this TRASH.
Besides...your POSTAL MAILBOX isn't about communication anymore. The only kinds of mail you get in your postal mailbox are BILLS and your MAGAZINES and NEWSLETTERS and CATALOGS. Come on, does anyone send US mail now except for at the holidays? Or to grandma? Except, heck, Grannie's on AOL now, too.
That's what the word SPAM was coined for. (The history of the word is a different topic for a different (overly rehashed) post.) But the fact was, a new word was needed and SPAM arrived to fill the need: To let people know that this wasn't regular junk mail. Pretty much ALL postal mail (besides checks) is junk mail, anyway...
But SPAM is too soft. Too cuddly. SPAM doesn't convey the sense of urgency that is needed...
I think it would be effective if people started calling it for what it is: Trash, Garbage
Pollution!
I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.