Book Review: Jordan Belfort's The Wolf of Wall Street originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

First, some background on the company: SLJB, a Windsor, Ontario based construction supply store, soared to a high of around 20 cents a share in September of 2006, as the company issued a string of press releases announcing lucrative contracts in the Middle East. For instance, on September 5th, the company announced that it had closed a cement contract in the United Arab Emirates which would generate $350 million (US) in annual revenue for the tiny lumberyard.

The stock's huge upward movement and volume raised the eyebrow of a local reporter who visited the company's office, and wrote a piece essentially saying that the reality of the company didn't seem to match up with the claims of hundred million dollar contracts. Pretty soon, the Ontario Securities Commission had halted trading of the stock (although it still trades OTC in the US) and charged the company and its officers with issuing false press releases and manipulating the trading of the stock while dumping millions of dollars worth of stock -- a classic pump and dump.

Continue reading SLJB: the silliest press release ever

SLJB: the silliest press release ever originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Apr 2007 17:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What is the point of this ad? Warren Buffett, one of the world's greatest executives, talks about the importance of focusing on the operations of a business rather than the stock price. And yet, Skechers appears to be promoting their stock through an advertisement that has almost nothing to do with selling sneakers.

But hey, maybe this is a bullish sign. To advertise their stock that prominently during a a baseball game, the management must have a lot of faith in it, right?

Well no. If you take a look at the recent insider trading, you can see there is perhaps an argument for why management might be focusing now on the stock price:

Continue reading Skechers' ads promote stock and sneakers -- Does that make sense?

Skechers' ads promote stock and sneakers -- Does that make sense? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As Tom Taulli wrote earlier today, the number of accounts being infiltrated by computer hackers in Eastern Europe and Asia continues to rise, and your accounts at an online brokerage firm may be at risk. While E*Trade, TD Ameritrade, Schwab and Fidelity have promised to reimburse customers who lose money in their accounts due to fraud, the problem continues to grow. Who knows what the thieves will do with the information once they've gotten it by infiltrating your account?

E*Trade reported on a conference call last week that it spent $18 million in the third quarter to compensate customers affected by trading fraud, according to a report from Bloomberg. TD Ameritrade also admitted to losses, but gave no numbers. We may get more details when it reports its numbers, expected later today. Charles Schwab told Bloomberg that it didn't see "anything unusual enough to warrant a financial disclosure." Well, if I were a Schwab customer and my account were infiltrated, I certainly would consider it important enough for disclosure. I hope Schwab is being more candid with its customers. Fidelity did not comment on Bloomberg's story.

Bloomberg also reported that the FBI, the SEC and the NASD are trying to unravel exactly what is happening and how its being done. There are actually two types of fraud they are seeing. One is a classic "pump and dump," where hackers are opening an account in someone else's name and using it for illegal trading to pump up a stock. The person whose name was used for the account looks like the one responsible for the crime. Was the information used to open the account initially obtained by infiltrating an account at another online broker? No one knows for sure yet how it's done. The second type of fraud is straight theft, where hackers use personal information such as social security numbers to break into accounts. Once they have control, they sell securities and then wire the proceeds outside the U.S.

Javelin Strategy and Research of Pleasanton, California, estimates that identify theft will cost Americans $56.6 billion this year, according to Bloomberg. That doesn't even begin to account for the time it takes to clean up the mess after you've been a victim of identity theft. It can take years and hundreds of hours to get your financial history back on track. Good information about how to prevent identity theft and what to do if you are a victim is available from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Are your online accounts safe? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Oct 2006 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.