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

  1. Want to get rich quick
  2. Think investing has some magic bullet or secret formula for success
  3. Are essentially and critically uninformed about the markets
  4. 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.