Who would fall for this?!

I have been getting these stupid flyers that claim "Buy stock XXXX, which is poised to skyrocket." It's a well-known variation on the scam; the only thing that has impressed me is the increasing quality of the production. One even posed as a 32-page investment magazine with a variety of articles, but if you actually looked through it, it was only pushing one particular stock.

Got another one today and actually took a minute to read through it. A footnote reads, "[The producer of the flyer] may hold positions in the company mentioned." Even more ridiculous, it discloses that, "The profile of XXXX is a paid advertisement by a third party shareholder to XXXX in the amount of 250,000 shares of stock that need to be sold to pay for the cost of this advertising." And most farcical of all we are treated to "The target price was determined arbitrarily."

Who would fall for this?!

Obviously, this scam works or they would have stopped sending me the flyers. But I am amazed to learn that there are enough people dumb enough to fall for this pitch to keep it alive.

What is even more unbelievable is that they obtained my name due to my Financial Planning Association membership. I have cancelled my membership not just for the obvious reason that I believe they violated their duty to take reasonable care with my information, but even more so because the FPA apparently has enough members who might fall for this scam to make them worth targetting.