By hook or by crook

If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. This may well be the oldest adage in the book but, as we report this month, millions of international investors are still being ripped off by fraudulent money-making schemes. The latest scam is perhaps one of the most ingenious. Messages are left on home answering machines featuring a young woman who appears to mistakenly believe she has dialled a friend and confides inside information from her broker boyfriend. In reality, however, it is simply a con perpetrated by "pump and dump" merchants who are creating a buying frenzy around sm...