I Lost Money to a Trading Scam That Preys on Amateur Traders

vice.com

4 points·monsieurpng··6 comments

> I took some money out of my savings and did some reading about pump and dump success stories to help build my confidence...

How did that reading not include noticing that “pump and dumps” are designed explicitly to prey on people via market manipulation? The whole premise is that the people you convince to push the price up have to be bag holders so that the sellers can get off the ride at the top.

The con is that this guy thought he was doing the pump and dump to other people but really he was the mark.

Well, so be it. He didn't try to be a trader, he tried to be a criminal - and he paid for it.

It seems pretty easy to figure out: if somebody tells you to buy the stock, it’s because they’ve already bought in and you’re the mark. There’s no incentive for the scammer to include more people in the winning side of the pump and dump, they benefit by having as many fools as possible pumping and as few of them as possible dumping.

> 'The premise was a classic “pump and dump”. Fans of The Wolf of Wall Street will be familiar'

I only saw the movie trailer and an interview with dude after he'd served a federal prison term, but...I do have this beautiful bridge you might wanna get on before it's gone?

Rather cheap life lesson... Hopefully he made it all back on the magazine story.

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