Spam used to boost stock prices
Spam is no longer simply a tool for mass-mailing unsolicited advertising, it is now being used in some cases to drive up certain prices on the stock market. According to PandaLabs, there has been a series of mass-mailings containing stock market information, advising users to buy stocks in certain companies.
PandaLabs has analyzed one of these cases and found that stock prices in one of the companies mentioned increased significantly over a period of a few days -even rising 12 percent in one day-, thanks to this type of spam.
?This new use of spam would seem to be quite effective from what we have seen so far. There are two possible sources: either the companies themselves are trying to boost their stock value, or -and this would seem more likely-, individuals that have bought cheap stocks and are looking for a quick profit on selling them?, explains Luis Corrons, director of PandaLabs.
