Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have
identified a new tactic being used by spammers involved in
lucrative "pump-and-dump" stock spam campaigns. These criminals are
now targeting companies offering to boost their stock prices in
return for payment.
Pump-and-dump scams are email campaigns which encourage people
to invest in a particular company's stock, in order to quickly
inflate its value and enable the spammers to make a fast profit. It
is thought that these scams take place unbeknown to the company
involved. Now, in a new twist seen in an email campaign discovered
by SophosLabs, scammers are telling companies that they can boost
their own stock prices by up to 250 percent within two to three
weeks, and are even offering a one day free trial. The emails also
goes on to claim that the scammers will offer advice on future
share price movements to investors, for a 30 percent share of the
income.
Part of the email reads:
You own an underrated stock and the market price of your
stock is from 0.001 to 1$
We can increase the price of your stock and we can increase
average day trading volume. We can increase price up to 200-250% in
2-3 weeks and also we can increase volume by 10 times each trading
day. You don't have to pay anything in advance. First we increase
the price and the volume, then you pay.
The email message offers to manipulate stock
prices for companies, and provide advance warning to investors of
stocks that are going to be "pumped" via spam campaigns.
"Not only do these crooks boost their own share price by
artificially playing the market, but now they have the audacity to
try and get paid for it by the companies involved," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant for Sophos. "This twist also sees the
scammers offering information on upcoming stock manipulations to
investors. By actively manipulating stock prices by sending bogus
information out via junk email, they have an insight into which
shares are likely to shift position next. Investors must avoid
these offers at all costs, as they may find themselves caught out
in a criminal sting which leaves them out of pocket."
Pump-and-dump stock campaigns work by spammers purchasing stock
at a cheap price and then artificially inflating its price by
encouraging others to purchase more (often by spamming "good news"
about the company to others). The spammers then sell off their
stock at a profit. Sophos experts report that pump-and-dump stock
campaigns account for approximately 15 percent of all spam, up from
0.8 percent in January 2005.
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend against the
threats of spam, spyware and viruses.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.