Internet Stock Fraud Alert

“Pump and Dump” Stocks

Updated May 21, 2007

Spammers are broadcasting emails with forged return addresses falsely indicating that they were sent by someone at donwright.com. These spam emails are fraudulent. Recent broadcasts have hyped these stocks:

Previous months:

In addition, spammers are also broadcasting emails which direct the reader to web sites which purport to “pick winners.” These also have fraudulent donwright.com return addresses:

Be advised:

No one at donwright.com has ever sent an email recommending a stock or promoting a website which recommends stocks. If you receive such an email with a return address at donwright.com, you may be confident that the email is part of a scam and that you are their target.

They already control the stock that they are going to dump. Organized crime and terrorist organizations have used this scheme to raise money, and they don’t deserve your help, nor should you be their sucker.

“Pump and dump” is also known as “hype and dump manipulation.” It is outright fraud, usually involving microcap stocks that are traded over the counter. Please look up “pump and dump” in any search engine (include the quotes), or go to this web page by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: www.sec.gov/answers/pumpdump.htm.

A company hyped through fraudulent emails may actually be a valid company, though not necessarily. Officers of the company may actually participate in or instigate the fraud. Occasionally, a company is itself a victim of the fraudulent manipulation of its stock. Regardless, you may assume that someone sent you the unsolicited fraudulent email for their own benefit, certainly not for yours.

A fraction of the spam emails arrive at donwright.com as bounce-backs because of bad destination addresses. They are added to the above tables of spam broadcasts as soon as they are received here. The symbols, names, and web sites are shown as listed in the email. The date may be only one of several dates that the email was received.

The fraudulent emails received here are usually characterized by:

•   A sender address forged to xyz@donwright.com, where “xyz” may be a name or any number of random characters;

•   A false sender name (which does not exist at donwright.com!);

•   A meaningless subject, often random words or short phrases; and

•   An originating IP address which varies widely, and which therefore may be forged or from one of several hijacked computers.

Here is an excellent link about stock spam, normally quite up to date: www.spamnation.info/stocks/index.php

A few of many other good links:

∙ Silicon.com: silicon.com/research/specialreports/thespamreport/

∙ Technologynewsdaily.com: technologynewsdaily.com/node/1205

∙ Wikipedia.com: wikipedia.org/wiki/Pump_and_dump

∙ Smartmobs.com: smartmobs.com/archive/2005/12/13/pump_and_dump.html

∙ Ontario Securities Commission: osc.gov.on.ca/Investor/Alert/

∙ 60-seconds.com: 60-seconds.com/179_pump_and_dump.html

∙ RickConner.net: rickconner.net/spamweb/spam_pumpndump.html

Here are a few other sites whose email addresses are being abused like ours:

∙ www.psychpage.com

∙ www.jesseworley.com

∙ www.aubreyturner.org

∙ www.zone38.net

∙ www.circuitbenders.co.uk

∙ www.svvg.biz

∙ www.bovitz.net