Penny Stock Promoters Gone Wild

Perhaps it is the time of year or just the general run up in the market, but the number of online promotions for penny stock services is flourishing.

One particularly exciting promotion comes from PennyStockSleuth. The site claims that is has "three underground penny stock picks poised soar up to 300% in 2007". The site even promotes a turf stock that no one knows is publicly traded. Perhaps that even includes the company’s management.

Then, there is the GrowthStockGuru. The site claims that one of its picks, City Telecom, went up 341% in four days. It declines to mention whether any of its selections went down. But, maybe none of them did.

Another favorite has to be VisionInvesting. Its website says that, if its projections are correct, an $18,000 investment could be worth $1,170,000 in ten years. The company does not mention what will happen if it is not right.

Finally, for now, there is the OTCStockExchange. On September 26 of last year, it recommended a company called Sustainable Energy. Over the next month, the stock had a 179,000% return. The company’s stock chart indicates that it has lost about 75% of that gain since then.

It all sound great. Big money.brilliant picking. But one has to wonder who regulates the stuff.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about and hold no interest in any penny stock newsletter.