Why you can't believe the stock PR firms

[aiki14]

I am guessing Thierry deleted the thread but there was a guy who had some promotion site for stocks, and he was promoting PXCE which he called the $10 pennystock or $10 pink sheet stock. He spoke of insider buying and merger deals and the like. We called him out on it and found out he was paid for one month of pumping the stock here and on other forums and chatrooms.
Through the month the stock went up to $10 and above and this "promoter" argued with me about how this was a good investment the whole time.
Here's the chart as of today:

4341

[Mbrown10012]

When things sounds too good to be true, I stay out. I might miss on some great opportunities, but I surely miss out on all the scams out there as well.

[MoreYummy]

How come there are 2 PXCE?

1 with 9.99, the other is 2.00. So the chart is showing 2 of them at same time. Or they are different.

And you are the one paying him to promote? :D

[aiki14]

How come there are 2 PXCE?

1 with 9.99, the other is 2.00. So the chart is showing 2 of them at same time. Or they are different.

And you are the one paying him to promote? :D

The 9.99 is the .pk and then they got delisted even from there and are now .ob and if you notice the last trade as PXCE.pk was 27 apr

[MoreYummy]

Ok, so which one is first. .ob before .pk?

When i pull up a chart, it also shows same chart for both of them.

[aiki14]

Ok, so which one is first. .ob before .pk?

When i pull up a chart, it also shows same chart for both of them.

As per Yahoo finance, because my system doesn't distinguish between the two, it was .ob then .pk and I got it wrong in my earlier post. Still it is a classic view of a pump and dump, and shows the astonishing lack of character of the PR firm. I wish I could remember it, I found them and they were a one man shop somewhere in rural alabama I think.

[aiki14]

I remembered, the PR firm was called Market Medias

http://www.marketmedias.org/index.html

PXCE was a company totally dedicated to selling it's own stock which went public in January, used the Clean Energy name to build hype, pumped the shares up from $2 to $10+ then dumped the shares.

Here's how they'll do it again
PXCE (PAX Clean Energy Corp) announced a merger with a Mobile Social Multimedia company called Mobile Video Development Inc (MVDI). They will re-organize under a different name (Watch for Thwapr) dissolve the previous entity, rinse and repeat.

Market Medias is a Whorish entity, and a disgrace. Any company that cannot even put the name of it's principles on its website is contemptible and must be considered to be complicit in the frauds it promotes.

[Bolimomo]

I have noticed that 2.00 prints too earlier today. $10 to $2 overnight. So goes. There was hardly any volume though.

Even when that James guy was pumping PXCE everyday a couple of months ago, the daily volume was still minimal (like 20,000 shares a day?). I don't know how much these crooks can get.

Anyway... there is no shortage of these pump-and-dump operations. And there is more than 1 sucker born every minute...

[jacobnbr1]

I say screw it!

Might as well be a part of the whole '' Pump And Dump '' grand illusions.

What? Huh? Take a look around buddy, whats one more gonna hurt.

BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA! :)

Did i mention SIRI was a strong buy right now? LOL!

[Bolimomo]

Hey Jacob! Welcome back! Rid of your accent, I see! I kind of miss it... :)

[jacobnbr1]

I never went anywhere bolimomo, i usually just lurk.
I really do try to limit my comments unless they pay me to spew.

If you wan't the accent i can give it to ya ifn ya ask nice. :0

[zombie]

PXCE was a company totally dedicated to selling it's own stock which went public in January, used the Clean Energy name to build hype, pumped the shares up from $2 to $10+ then dumped the shares.

Here's how they'll do it again
PXCE (PAX Clean Energy Corp) announced a merger with a Mobile Social Multimedia company called Mobile Video Development Inc (MVDI). They will re-organize under a different name (Watch for Thwapr) dissolve the previous entity, rinse and repeat.

.

Is that legal? I mean, they are obviously artificially bumping the price up and dumping the shares,when you say 'dissolve' i assume its 'bankruptcy' right? So wont the bankruptcy judge look into their murky papers and realize that there's something fishy?

Second question being, isn't there a possibility that a lot their shares were bought by their own people to pump the price up? Doesn't that account to internal trading?

[madcowdisease]

Is that legal? I mean, they are obviously artificially bumping the price up and dumping the shares,when you say 'dissolve' i assume its 'bankruptcy' right? So wont the bankruptcy judge look into their murky papers and realize that there's something fishy?

Second question being, isn't there a possibility that a lot their shares were bought by their own people to pump the price up? Doesn't that account to internal trading?

Yes, these pump and dump schemes are illegal. But keep in mind the majority of regulation for listed securities is done by the exchange or in the case of Nasdaq securities the NASD has a set of rules and listing standards. This is not the case in OTCBB or Pink Sheet securities.

The SEC does a piss poor job of enforcing its own rules and regulations preferring to leave the dirty work to the respective SRO (e.g. NASD, NYSE). But the reach of these SROs does not extend into OTCBB and Pink Sheets.

While manipulation such as Match Sales and Wash Sales are in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of '34 the problem lies in enforcing the rule. Again, one can place the lack of enforcement on the shoulders of the SEC in the Wild West of Pink Sheets.

You are correct in believing there are rules regarding a company purchasing its own shares. This is mostly outlined in Rule 10b-18 of The Act. You can search it for more info but just know there are a handful of exception or safe harbors. One I'm familiar with is limiting the single day purchase to 25% of ADTV. In a thinly traded security this amount all on the buy side could easily manipulate the TA screens many day traders use to identify activity. Also, there is a block purchase exception which doesn't factor into the ADTV. Basically, if you're savvy enough there are ways to manipulate the market without drawing too much attention to yourself.