Because of increasing laws concerning online spam, and because of some harsh sentences that have been handed down to those who have been convicted of spamming crimes, and because computer users are growing wise to their old tricks, spammers have had to come up with some new and rather sneaky methods of email spam. One of these techniques, known as Stock Spam is the professional spammer’s attempt to cash in unsuspecting investors.

This form of spam, also known as a Pump and dump scheme, is really quite simple. The spammers purchase huge amounts of stocks from relatively unknown companies. Next, the spammers make use of their comprehensive online mailing lists in order to e-mail as many people as possible with a “hot stock tip” explaining how great of an investment this stock is.

If this e-mail is sent to enough unsuspecting computer users, a few people will eventually fall for it and purchase shares in the stock themselves. This drives up the prices of the stock, and the spammers are then able to quickly sell their shares and make a nice profit in no time at all. Of course, once these huge amounts of stock are sold, the price will inevitable drop back down – leaving the spam victims left holding on to stocks that are nearly worthless.

As you can see, the Pump and Dump scheme, or Stock Spam can be quite devastating to those who fall for the trick. While the concept and the end result is the same as all other =spam email, the road used to get there is just a little bit different.