Comments on: McWhortle–the SEC is lurking http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/ Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:34:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: mrsmicah http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6391 mrsmicah Thu, 17 Jan 2008 20:06:03 +0000 http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6391 Wait, it's unethical to make a demonstration site of how easily people can be fooled? That's hilarious! Sure it'd be bad if they took peoples' money... The guy on the site thinks that the SEC should find other ways of educating us. I think McWhortle's genius is that it fools the people who think they know all the tricks. If they saw a release saying "Some scams may disguise themselves as legitimate businesses, yadda yadda yadda," they'd say "Duh, we know that." It's only when they see HOW legitimate the sites can look that the message hits home. Wait, it’s unethical to make a demonstration site of how easily people can be fooled? That’s hilarious! Sure it’d be bad if they took peoples’ money…

The guy on the site thinks that the SEC should find other ways of educating us. I think McWhortle’s genius is that it fools the people who think they know all the tricks. If they saw a release saying “Some scams may disguise themselves as legitimate businesses, yadda yadda yadda,” they’d say “Duh, we know that.” It’s only when they see HOW legitimate the sites can look that the message hits home.

]]> By: Dad http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6387 Dad Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:43:13 +0000 http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6387 That was good :) However, not everyone liked it. I googled for McWhortle and found a number of links including: http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/sites/0407_mcwhortle.html That site declared McWhortle.com the *unethical* web site of the month because "the government lied to us". I think that someone's nose is out of joint because s/he was fooled by the site and had his/her pride hurt. On the other hand, I think it is an excellant object lesson for people. Apparently, according to another site, the SEC has a number of such sites out there to educate the public. I rather enjoyed the article on this site: http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2002/20020204.html which put their own users to the test with McWhortle and defended themselves against the heat they took for it. That was good :) However, not everyone liked it. I googled for McWhortle and found a number of links including:

http://www.ethicsscoreboard.com/sites/0407_mcwhortle.html

That site declared McWhortle.com the *unethical* web site of the month because “the government lied to us”. I think that someone’s nose is out of joint because s/he was fooled by the site and had his/her pride hurt.

On the other hand, I think it is an excellant object lesson for people. Apparently, according to another site, the SEC has a number of such sites out there to educate the public.

I rather enjoyed the article on this site:
http://www.investmentu.com/IUEL/2002/20020204.html

which put their own users to the test with McWhortle and defended themselves against the heat they took for it.

]]> By: KMC http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6349 KMC Thu, 17 Jan 2008 11:07:54 +0000 http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6349 I feel for the SEC. They're an underfunded agency up against a lot of very well funded people. This sounds like a neat, unconventional (and cheap) way to try to educate people. I feel for the SEC. They’re an underfunded agency up against a lot of very well funded people. This sounds like a neat, unconventional (and cheap) way to try to educate people.

]]> By: CatherineL http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6337 CatherineL Thu, 17 Jan 2008 09:24:40 +0000 http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6337 My goodness Mrs M - that was scary. McWhortle's sounded so plausible too. I was going to go right off and research them after reading your post. But, they don't even exist? This is a good example of how easy it is to get scammed if you don't do your research first. My goodness Mrs M – that was scary. McWhortle’s sounded so plausible too. I was going to go right off and research them after reading your post.

But, they don’t even exist? This is a good example of how easy it is to get scammed if you don’t do your research first.

]]> By: Ryan S. http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6329 Ryan S. Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:46:47 +0000 http://financefreelancelife.com/2008/01/16/mcwhortle-the-sec-is-lurking/#comment-6329 Sadly, yes, some folks just go ahead and jump into investments without knowing a darned thing about them... - Ryan http://uncommon-cents.net/ Sadly, yes, some folks just go ahead and jump into investments without knowing a darned thing about them…
-
Ryan
http://uncommon-cents.net/

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