What to do with All that Stock Spam  
by Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. - 2 Comments, Last updated 11/26/2007

“We have a runner!” “Small cap stock!” “Could DPER.PK be the next Exxon?” If you are sick of getting stock spam - that spam hawking some worthless stock in an effort to drive up the price so that those behind the spammer can cash in and get out - then here are a couple of ways to have fun with that spam.

Use it as an Educational Tool

My good friend Mickey Chandler has set up a website where you can track the health and wealth (and decline) of the stock advertised in spam, as if you had invested in it (where, hopefully, you haven’t, really). They also have put together their own virtual “portfolio” of all of the stock they have seen advertised in spam (and you can feed them more), which you can track along with them. Mickey has himself lost nearly $30,000 (in virtual pretend money) by “investing” in every stock he’s heard about through spam. It’s a very interesting read.

Check it out at Stock Spam: Your personal stock spam portfolio.

The 3 Rs: Read, Recognize and Ridicule

Another good friend, Dave Taylor over at Intuitive.com, recently returned from a business trip, and found his email inbox overflowing with stock spam.

Instead of just deleting it, however, he decided to read it. Recognizing it for what it was, he then decided to have some fun by ridiculing it. He does this by deflating and lampooning the subject line of the stock spam:

For example:

“Strong buy! stock I am! skeptical if you can’t even figure out how to use! common punctuation.”

It’s educational and humourous at the same time. If you’d like to read it, check out “Investment Advice Via Email? I don’t think so…” over at Intuitive.com.

Report It

Regardless of whether you choose to track it, ridicule it, or just delete it, take a moment first to report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You can go here to report your stock spam to the FTC.