“Stock-Picking Robot” — Really?
A pair of 21-year-old twin brothers (Alexander and Thomas Hunter) from the UK duped thousands of investors in the US into believing that a fictitious “stock-picking robot” could find penny stocks set to surge in price.
According to a lawsuit from the SEC, approximately 75,000 investors paid a total of $1.2 million for a newsletter subscription and home “robot software”. The Hunter twins used the newsletter and fake software to feed spurious stock tips to unwitting investors in a “pump and dump” scheme. The Hunters were also paid by companies to tout specific stocks.
The lessons here should be obvious. Lots of people
- Want to get rich quick
- Think investing has some magic bullet or secret formula for success
- Are essentially and critically uninformed about the markets
- Desperately need help with their investing and financial planning
If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If in doubt, seek the expert opinion of a competent, professional, and ethical investment advisor.