Talk about sick.
Scammers are using the Ebola scare in a bid to get mom-and-pop investors to buy stock in companies developing drugs or other purported treatments for preventing the spread of the deadly virus, a financial watchdog warned on Thursday.
The scammers are trying to put together what’s called a pump-and-dump scheme, where they push shares of companies higher, and then sell their stake, pocketing the profits while leaving investors with the losses, according to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
“You should never, ever invest based solely on what you read in a press release, promotional material, or on a stock … site on the Internet,” Gerri Walsh, the group’s senior vice president for investor education, told The Post.
In addition to Ebola, the scammers are also trying to play off fears of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, another deadly virus that has sparked fears of a global pandemic.
While the Ebola scare looms large over Africa, killing 1,000 people and infecting another 2,000 as of Tuesday, most health experts agree that it poses far less of a threat to the US.
Shares of experimental Ebola drug maker Tekmira’s shot up 135 percent to $23.80 during two weeks through Aug. 11. The company’s value has since crashed, diving 31 percent to $16.20 at the end of trading Thursday.
While the Finra warning isn’t tied to Tekmira, the company’s sudden rise shows how easy it is to get investors hyped up over Ebola treatments.
Walsh said its fraud detection group has noticed similar hype from previous scams, ranging from bird flu to anthrax.