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matt25

07/19/10 5:23 PM

#195953 RE: oknpv #195951

Re: having to call to buy/sell

I too am an E*Trade customer and recently had a conversation with an E*Trade account representative about my account and the unfortunate restrictions on the ability to complete buys/sells of WAVX online. He was very candid in explaining that the reason is for protection of customer accounts due to the fact that some hacker got one or more customer's E*Trade account information and fraudulently engaged in a "pump and dump" scheme--those were his words--whereby the fraudster bought up shares of WAVX through the hijacked E*Trade account in order to drive the price up, not using his own money, of course, and then sold a large number of shares he held at another brokerage; he mentioned Schwab. So, the restrictions are in place to verify the identity of E*Trade customers who want to trade WAVX, so that such fraudulent activities are not repeated. The restrictions were put in place soon after the fraud was reported and recognized, which was about 4-6 weeks ago, no?

He admitted it's unfortunate and said the restrictions usually remain in place for several months, like six. You can see where they're coming from.

So it looks like WAVX and its shareholders are victims once again of some nefarious trading activity.

matt25