Scam Dogs and Mo-mo Mamas: Inside the Wild and Wooly World of Internet Stock Trading Book

Would you take a stock tip from a guy named Tokyo Joe? How about one called Big Dog? If so, you should read this book. If not, you will probably find Scam Dogs and Mo-Mo Mamas a very entertaining curiosity about people you're glad you're not. Tokyo Jo and Big Dog are two of the main characters in Scam Dogs. They post messages on Internet stock discussion boards, touting the stocks of companies most of us have never heard of. When these guys say "buy," thousands do. The problem for those thousands is that the gurus may have done all their own buying before recommending a stock to others, and start selling as soon as their followers start buying. At least, that's what the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Tokyo Joe of doing, when it filed a civil complaint against him in January 2000. (This practice, according to the helpful glossary at the back of the book, is called "scalping.") Emshwiller is a Wall Street Journal reporter who has covered numerous frauds and swindles on assignment--in fact the book started as a Journal article about the colourful Tokyo Joe (How colourful? He usually trades naked in his Manhattan apartment, sitting in the lotus position while staring at multiple computer screens.) Scam Dogs will be most useful to those contemplating a career in day trading--however, when you see how many ways there are for people to fleece you, you may decide it's a lot more remunerative not to become a sheep. --Lou SchulerRead More