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A web video company that is most likely a hoax

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Re: A web video company that is most likely a hoax

#61

Post by skore »

AJ007 wrote: post #44
lukeholder wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this guy is a penny stock trader and he called it a pump and dump scam: http://www.timothysykes.com/2011/11/how-a-penny-stock-promot...

This is an obvious case of fraud which the SEC should be investigating: http://www.smauthority.com/raystream/

I've seen quite a number of such "Trader Advisor" Websites and have always wondered - how is their business model anything but a self fulfilling prophecy? I mean - you make a bet on a stock (or manufacture a stock to bet on), but tell an audience to follow your advice, thus increasing demand and drive up the price of the stock.

Seriously - how is this not transparently fraud to people in the stock market? How is this not transparently fraud to everybody, actually? Or is it just praying on the hobbyist investors who are deluded into thinking "get rich quick" works for ordinary folks while the people "in the know" are delighted to have an army of zombies to commandeer?

Would be great to hear if anybody has some insight into how fraudsters like this are prosecuted (or avoid prosecution).

Re: A web video company that is most likely a hoax

#62

Post by lurch00 »

DarkShikari wrote: post #39
radley wrote: post #34

I checked the demo videos: "Original Version" - 1080p, AVC uncompressed "Standard Compression" - 480p, AVC uncompressed "Raystream Version" - 480p H.264 AAC, ~1200kb data rate Nothing that fishy here. They seem to be advertising to broadcasters. It's possible they have some nice custom algorithms for their videos. That isn't uncommon - take a look at Apple movie trailers and iTunes videos: they have their own magic j…

"Custom magic algorithms" in this case being "off-the-shelf free software, using completely default parameters, that we've stolen and claimed is our magic algorithm".

Good thing for them they can hide their algorithms behind the DMCA as proprietary work.

Re: A web video company that is most likely a hoax

#63

Post by nikcub »

AlexMuir wrote: post #48

I worked for a couple of years investigating frauds and I was blown away at the lack of law enforcement activity. There's a whole community of people who work together to steal huge amounts of money from anyone who will give it up. These people are amongst the biggest spenders on lawyers, as they try to keep their names off websites through the use of libel laws. For example, these guys: http://www.petraenergy.net/ I…

> The police simply aren't interested.

Probably because it isn't their area. Stock frauds and pump-and-dumps should be reported to the sec:

http://www.sec.gov/complaint/select.shtml

They are getting better at investigating them :)

Re: A web video company that is most likely a hoax

#64

Post by nikcub »

radley wrote: post #34

I checked the demo videos: "Original Version" - 1080p, AVC uncompressed "Standard Compression" - 480p, AVC uncompressed "Raystream Version" - 480p H.264 AAC, ~1200kb data rate Nothing that fishy here. They seem to be advertising to broadcasters. It's possible they have some nice custom algorithms for their videos. That isn't uncommon - take a look at Apple movie trailers and iTunes videos: they have their own magic j…

He could be a short-seller trying to get the stock to tank. This is what is interesting about small-cap public companies, you never know who is telling the truth (since there are so many forces at play from longs, shorts etc.) until you check it out yourself (or somebody you know/trust).

Edit: after checking it out I am 95% certain that this is a fraud. shame there is no stock to short :( (even though it is +6% today)

Re: A web video company that is most likely a hoax

#68

Post by brandonhall »

steveplace wrote: post #33

Here's more details: http://www.timothysykes.com/2011/11/how-a-penny-stock-promot... The RAYS campaign was run by the same guys who did LEXG, the latter being one of the best pump and dumps last year-- ran from $1 to $10 in a short amount of time.

Glad you mentioned Tim here. He's one of about five truth-tellers in that world of scams. Great resource

Re: A web video company that is most likely a hoax

#69

Post by muzz »

mikeryan wrote: post #45
radley wrote: post #34

I checked the demo videos: "Original Version" - 1080p, AVC uncompressed "Standard Compression" - 480p, AVC uncompressed "Raystream Version" - 480p H.264 AAC, ~1200kb data rate Nothing that fishy here. They seem to be advertising to broadcasters. It's possible they have some nice custom algorithms for their videos. That isn't uncommon - take a look at Apple movie trailers and iTunes videos: they have their own magic j…

they seem to be pretty active for being supposedly fake. Check their twitter feed. They tweet as much if not more than most video companies and it's not fluff. A good pump and dump scam requires a believable company presence. You just fell for the smoke screen.

They seem to have some PR "help" too. For example, this story from "Bedford Research" made the wires and at first glance seems to imply, falsely, that Raystream and Level 3 worked together: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Breakthrough-Technology-From-i...

Re: A web video company that is most likely a hoax

#70

Post by jcromartie »

muzz wrote: post #69
mikeryan wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they seem to be pretty active for being supposedly fake. Check their twitter feed. They tweet as much if not more than most video companies and it's not fluff. A good pump and dump scam requires a believable company presence. You just fell for the smoke screen.

They seem to have some PR "help" too. For example, this story from "Bedford Research" made the wires and at first glance seems to imply, falsely, that Raystream and Level 3 worked together: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Breakthrough-Technology-From-i...

There was another PR release that mentioned Raystream and Netflix together, to ever so gently insinuate they were on the same level or somehow related.
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