Stuff like this story of a 17 YO internet fraudster who bilked $1M out of thousands of investers continue to amaze me. Who is naiive enough to send money to random companies/people on the web? How many suckers are born every minute?
Newsbytes: Stephen Cutler, director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said the case “demonstrates that just about anyone – even a 17-year-old high school student – can mastermind a securities fraud over the Internet.”
NYTimes: Cole Bartiromo, a California teenager who raised more than $1 million from investors late last fall by guaranteeing returns of up to 2,500 percent? In less than two months, Mr. Bartiromo, 17, persuaded more than 1,000 people to send him money by promising to make risk-free bets on sporting events, according to a complaint yesterday from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Then he transferred much of the money to an account he held at a casino in Costa Rica.