|
Written by Travis Morien
|
|
Trash and cash or the "Cybersmear" attack is the opposite of pump and dump or touting. This sort of manipulation is made by short sellers, those who want to buy cheap stock or even vindictive competitors. They involve systematic "trashing" of the stock, including expressing very bearish views on the stock via the Internet, negative-touting via spam or even in its extreme form the "hack attack". The latter is a very serious criminal attack and involves hackers putting very bad news onto the company's web site to precipitate a severe market fall, or simply an attack like a "denial of service", which can be especially devastating when the company being attacked sells products via the Internet. Trash and cash is a fairly new scam, it hasn't occurred as often as pump and dump, however as the Internet becomes a more powerful medium for investors it may well become more common in the future.
|