[ insider_reports_insider ] Stock Scammers Spam SEC Lawyer
David Utter Staff Writer
2007-07-10
Insider Reports RSS Feed
The penny stock pump-and-dump scheme run by two Texas men used zombie computers to push out their spams.
 | | Stock Scammers Spam SEC Lawyer |  |
Darrel Uselton and Jack Uselton defrauded people of some $4.6 million with their stock scam. The Texas Attorney General has charged both men with organized criminal activity and money laundering for their activities.
A report at Sophos said the duo used spam to inflate interest in at least 13 penny stocks between May 2005 and December 2006. A network of zombie computers sent the spam to numerous people.
One of the recipients worked as a lawyer for the Securities and Exchange Commission. The lawyer alerted investigators to the scam.
"It seems that these criminals were in such a rush to make their millions that they forget to pay any attention to which email addresses were being spammed," Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley said in the report.
The Houston Chronicle said Darrel Uselton is being held on $8 million bail. Both he and Jack Uselton have run afoul of securities authorities previously.
Forbes said Jack Uselton had been banned from committing this kind of fraud as part of a 2002 settlement of another pump-and-dump stock scheme. Darrel Uselton had been subject to disciplinary action in 2004 and 2005 by the National Association of Securities Dealers.
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
More insider_reports_insider Articles
Insider Reports RSS Feed
|
|