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."

Comments

Someone get his address?

[pfguy]

Think we can do to him what we did to the last spammer that caught media attention?

Snail spam to the rescue.

Surprised it still works

[mugnyte]

This guy may well be mistaken identity, but if the allegations are true, he is surely in for a surprise. I don't know his state's laws, but let's hope they get in on the works.

I have given up communicating on stock boards mainly because of the nature of these kinds of posts - hype. But then again, I'm not sure what I was looking for in reading those boards anyway.

I hope the FCC gets this guy.

[inteller]

but if he only made that much money in the time said, that's not much better than a decently paid programmer. Is this guy really the big fish? how much money do the penis enlargers and 2 week MBA guys make?

so this is the guy...

[simpl3x]

who faxes me all this crap about great stocks! each one has a different number to call to be removed from the various lists, so you can never effectively opt out. this is why we need a national opt in database! and, now he has a name... and an address... and a telephone number... i do wonder what lists his name will be entered on!

$159k

[nherc]

$159k over 3+ years isn't exactly a killing, especially for something he was spending a considerable amount of his time on (read: full time job).

Perhaps the lower and lower profit margains on this type of activity will eventually put an end to sonafabitches like this.

Stock Tip: McDonalds sucks.

[$$$$$exyGal]

Everyone should sell their McDonalds stock immediately! The stock is going down down down. Only suckers would keep it. They are being sued left and right, and it's only gonna get worse. Plus the fact that their restaurants are grimy, and they are slow, and their prices are kept artificially low (read Fast Food Nation).

Now, is the SEC gonna come and get me? What if I'm selling short?

--sex

Only in court

[crow]

Only in court are you innocent until proven guilty. In the media, your innocence or guilt is determined by whatever sounds best. Sure, the media often tosses in "alleged" in every-other sentence as insurance against lawsuits, but everyone knows that when the media uses the word, "alleged," they mean "guilty but not yet convicted in court."

This is the best spam control

[swb]

The best spam control isn't new laws about who can send mail or newer and fancier statistical analysis filters, it's vigorous and severe punishment for the fraudulent schemes/products pushed through email.

Even if you passed a law that said "No spamming" the people running spam servers or doing bulk emailing would still be nearly impossible to catch since they can be hijacking open relays or using false-name disposable mail servers.

But ALL of the spam ultimately has a 'reachable' person there to collect the money, and that provides the perfect means to catch the PEOPLE invovled.

If the fraud merchants behind these schemes began to get indicted and convicted with a visible public frequency, it might start to have a real impact on spam. It wouldn't be a 100% perfect solution, but it would stave off needless government regulation of email which 'spam' laws would need to be effective and it might scare off a big chunk of the amateurs and part-timers trying to run their own solo operations.

I'd love to see that spam bitch from Florida that was on Slashdot a few months ago lose that house, the SUV and all the other goodies she has as she tries to ward off a federal wire fraud investigation. I know she was just acting as an advertising service, but isn't aiding and abetting illegal too?

Re:Correction to Story

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course if he IS a Spammer, I'd saw we draw and quarter him.

In all seriousness, I really don't think the Spam problem is going to go away until we start killing these people. I have heard numerous times that the vast majority of spam (over 95%) is the result of the efforts of only about 100 major Spammers. If this is so, then we should just hunt these people down and publish their physical addresses and contact information so those "special" people among us can take it from there...

Gee, I'm glad they're prosecuting serious frauds..

[Alea]

I mean... $159,600... wow, no wonder the U.S. economy is down the tubes. It's great that SEC has plenty of time to fry these gnats and beat the war drums, showing they're doing their jobs, so they don't have to go after the multi-billion dollar scam people like Enron, WorldCom, and all the others that have covered their tracks by now.

Spam bugs me as much a next person, but if this is biggest fish they're going to catch that way, I'm sure all those investors and pension plan holders would rather the guns were turned on some more worthy target.

It's amazing how well the war hysteria has worked at smoothing over the corporate scandals. And now spam too...

As the adage goes. . .

[kfg]

A fool and his money were lucky to get together in the first place.

In a world where there are actually people who make investment decisions based on newspaper astrology columns and mortgage their homes to buy lottery tickets ( so that they're sure to win) nothing surprises me very much.

The fact of the matter is that most people aren't very bright. Get used to it. The world is populated by most people.

KFG

jonathan lebed

[circletimessquare]

jonathan lebed

anyone remember this kid?

read the new york times magazine article i linked to if you aren't familiar with his story. it absolutely floored me. great story.

15 years old, made at least $250,000 in six months

the amazing thing about this kid is he settled with the SEC... they BACKED OFF prosecuting him because at the time, shortly before the stock bubble burst a few years ago, his lawyer was ready to make an issue of the illegality of what he was doing... inflating stock prices through hype.

the problem? think about it: what was going on at the time via PROFESSIONAL stock info outlets?

same damn thing

makes you think, doesn't it?

made the SEC think at least, they backed off, so the kid actually cleared some profit (a small percentage of whatever he actually made... no one knows for sure, but not bad for a 15 year old)

amazing!

jonathan lebed: if you're at some university today, lurking on slashdot, my hats off to you for staring down the whole damn SEC ;-P