Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
$7 Million Stock fraud revealed in Facebook, Twitter
By siliconindia
|
Thursday, 07 October 2010, 23:48 IST |
8 Comments
Bangalore: The practice of using Facebook and Twitter to tout stocks has now come to limelight during a cocaine trafficking probe. According to the U.S. prosecutors, fraud of about $7 million was uncovered. The fraud was uncovered by investigators during a two year probe of suspected trafficking by longshoremen and others of 1.3 tons of cocaine worth $34 million through the port of New York and New Jersey.
"11 out of 22 people charged used more than 15 web sites, Facebook pages, and Twitter "feeds" to 'defraud the investing public into purchasing stocks that were being manipulated by participants in the conspiracy'," according to a statement by the Manhattan US Attorney's office.
While eight longshoremen and three others face narcotics trafficking charges, 11people face charges in this conspiracy. These 11 people were from New York, Florida and Pennsylvania and they are accused manipulating web site links that touted picks in four penny stocks said to be based on the authors' expertise and independent research. If these 11 are convicted they will face imprisonment of upto 20 years.
