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Have you heard of Marl the Stock Robot? Google “Marl” and click the first ad you see. You don’t have to read the whole page because I have summed it up in the next paragraph. Please click the ad anyway. You’ll understand why in a minute.
That page tells a story about the invention of “the first commercially available stock picking robot” which is available for $28,000 per license, which includes a week of training in the programmer’s home. The script assumes you can’t afford the software and offers you a stock tips newsletter subscription for only $47.
Maybe it’s a great newsletter. I don’t care about that. I am interested in the Marl software which, at $28,000, is out of the reach of anyone earnestly reading that page but vastly under-priced if it does what they claim.
Normally you would reject this sort of offer on the “too good to be true” rule alone but I wasn’t satisfied. I went looking for the software and I didn’t find any information leading to the purchase of a Marl software license. I did find a large number of sites echoing the same story and offering the same newsletter.
The site is one of a great many taking part in an affiliate marketing scheme to sell a newsletter subscription. This is just one of countless schemes telling lies in order to sell something. This is why I told you to click the ad rather than publish a link. They are paying for those ads, baiting real suckers, lying about a non-existent robot. Your clicks cost them money.
I don’t know whether the newsletter is any good. Maybe it can teach you enough to make some lucky investments. But if you want to make real money from Marl, I suggest you set up an affiliate marketing web site to sell that newsletter and buy all the ads you can get for $47.
Update 1: This is how a person can make money on a stock tip scam and why the government puts them away:
The volume of distribution of a newsletter such as the one at issue can rapidly become large enough that its membership, acting on the tips they receive, create an artificial demand for the penny stock and consequently cause the stock price to rise. If one reacts quickly enough and buys the stock before this wave of demand comes to market, it may be possible to realize a very high margin of profit where no real value exists in the merits of the company being traded. In this scenario, the biggest winner will be the first person to know about the tip and act on it, i.e. the publisher of the newsletter. Subscribers can profit, too, but they must buy fast and sell before the artificial demand bubble pops and the price regains parity with the actual market value.
Update 2: A reader going by the name of Mistlethrush left a very important comment below. It reveals the inner workings of the Marl software!
I wonder if any of you have actually used the product. Clickbank is pretty good at giving back refunds so why don’t you go undercover for the rest of use and find out if it really is a scam and give deep specifics as to what exactly it is and does.
In my searching, I’ve found that it seems most people who cry scam have never really used the product. Now, don’t get me wrong. A scam is a scam and common sence is golden. But I think it would be more credible for those who cry scam to at least have an experience with the product they are condeming like most product review sites.
So, would someone bite the bullet for the rest of us and try it out and then give an honest assesment of it. This is the kind of review that I’ve been searching for in the case of this “Marl” thing. Someone who actually used the product.
Nobody: There are some first-hand accounts here.
It’s amazing how fast the online marketers behind ‘Marl’are attempting to build the google ranks of the planted sites that attempt to dispute the scam. Must be a huge cash cow for them. Still it’s a shame so many people still fall for the ‘get rich quick’schemes. At least it’s a bit more clever than most of the phishing attempts circulating.
Chris: so true.
I have been fighting a series of attacks from some sort of botnet today. Somebody is trying to make my site go away.
http://www.onlinetradersforum.com/showthread.php?t=14607
I still haven’t found anywhere where someone said they lost money. I understand the “Cramer Effect” thing (stocks rise after a good recommendation or review) but who has actually lost money? Which stock was recommended? How much did you lose on that stock? How long did you use the Newsletter/Software?
This is the kind of review I’m talking about. I went to both the onlinetradersforum.com and other link recommended for first hand accounts. All I keep seeing is, “it’s a scam,” or “I spent $147 on the newsletter/software and I spent ___ on a stock.” But noone is saying what happened afterwards. Well at lest on onlinetradersforum.com some would post their recommended stocks and even the growth percentage. And there were complaints that the newsletter came a little too late.
But for the most part, everyone else is suspicious over their marketing strategies and not the product itself.
I’m sorry if I seem like a troll but I just like specifics. I’m quite weary of both sides of the fences really (Those who scam and those who cry scam without an objective view). I need more than just an opinion.
Nobody, yes you do in fact sound like a troll. If you don’t believe it is a “SCAM” then YOU be the one to prove otherwise. go to doublingstocks.com , pay your $47.00.
But don’t outright lie and claim nobody is saying what happened after they subscribed and whine because you aren’t being given access to individual investor account records so you can determine whether they got scammed or not. Pay your $47.00. If you don’t want to believe it is a scam that’s your perogative, go ahead and make a fortune with that miracle robot.
The Poster of this article was smart enough to see through the scam without the cover charge. Most new investors aren’t and that’s who this miracle pennystock program is marketed to. You need to just go and pay your stupid tax to “Michael” like me and others did and get your education the hard way.
here’s another blog from a satisfied customer.
http://doublingpennystocks.blogspot.com/
So many fools. Jeees. There is no Marl!!! Period. Check some of those
)
) That’s sounds like MARL? Actually if they have like 10 000 subscribes that amount of people can move up any
Stocks listed on doublingstocks.com with spamnation.info and you will see
There is few of them and they been spamwised before, what that means?
Those dudes subscribe as many people as possible, then they can contact
stock owner or stock owner contact them and offering to PUMP stock so
they can unload their shares. Lets say volume of the stock rise and those
from doublingstocks.com getting paid 5-7% of total volume regardless
if stock goes up or down, plus they already take $47 from each of you, – clowns
It’s easy when you have 1000-2000 subscribers to move little stocks
you load before you release info to subscribers, they load tomorrow and
you unload while they load
small stock, so if you can get out as quickly as possible there is tiny
possibility that you could make some $$$ too.
I signed up for the Newsletter on 11-21-2007
I recieved the first recommendation too late to take advantage of it.
I have not recieved another stock recommendation. I emailed them and got no response.
I got my money back from ClickBank.
Stocker, 100% with you. They even get publicity now on yahoo boards for penny stocks. This is how I knew about it. And when I went on their web site I was laughing reading it. The scam scheme is classic. But it works and these artists will make a fortune on never ending stream of fools.
If they were really smart they would offer a premium newsletter service for accelerated previews. Those who payed an extra would have the option to view the stock buys early. They would make an early entry profit and this would make them more pliable. These “live ones” would be willing to fork out a monthly fee. I wish I was greedy enough to try one of these schemes. I can imagine myself sitting back and watching the “sucker” base go up. If I could live with myself I would have a job I would love going to.
OK, I took the plunge. I had a few bucks to throw out in the street and I’ll be a guinea pig — I bought it. Both the newsletter and the application. I’ll be interested to see if the application works as advertised. And even more interested to see if it spits out the same recommendations as the newsletter. If the two are different, it would tend to confirm that its a pump & dump game. If the two are the same, then maybe not (but doesn’t prove its not a scam).
Quite frankly, I’m more interested in the application than the newsletter — because if the application “works” then you don’t need the newsletter.
I plan to paper trade its ‘recommendations’, and share on this site how it goes.
One thing that had me wondering is that they offer a 60 day trial, yet their ‘welcome letter’says you’ll get the first stock pick ‘within maybe (?) a week or two’(I added the questions mark). That kinda eats up a lot of the ‘trial’period doesn’t it.
Your humble guinea pig,
/Mistlethrush
Well, I did a bit of exploring within the Marl application. I used a .NET decompiler to generate the original source code and started looking through that. Not promising. To be fair, I’m not a .NET programmer (I’m a Java developer), so I may be missing something — not likely, though. However, I could find no place in the code that actually did any analysis of the stocks. Secondly, I used a database query tool to inspect their on-line MySQL database. It contained two tables. One was just a long list of stock symbols — nothing more. The contents of this table was used to create the rapidly scrolling list in the top box in the application. That’s all. The second table is a short list of stock symbols, a message (such as ‘Good Buy!’, ‘Stock is Rebounding’, ‘Good Pattern Trade’), along with a date. This table creates the slower scrolling list in the ‘Marls Watch List’— no analysis, just displays them one after another. Lastly, it populates the ‘Stock To Buy’field with the symbol for today’s date. No analysis. Just vomiting the ticker symbol that was predetermined to be ‘recommended’on this date.
This code isn’t worth 28 cents, let alone $28,000. Almost certainly a Pump & Dump scam. They decide which stock they want to pump, put it in their database with the date they want to pump it (probably in collusion with the directors of the corporation being pumped). Then on the date they want to pump it, Marls all around the world report it as a recommended buy — one the puppet-masters bought the day before. Sadly, in their database, they don’t include their future picks — or we could cash in on some of their action.
Anyhow, I still plan to paper trade their touts, just for grins. Who knows, they may generate enough inertia to make a buck or two (or lose it). I’ll post my results here as they come in. What fun. Oh. and I will pursue a refund (maybe fall for some other scam and dissect it, too).
Oh, and anyone (yes, you too) can download the Marl app for free. Free! It’s at http://www.doublingstocks.com/downloadmarl.zip . So if there’s any .NET geeks out there, you can dissect it too.
Your humble guinea pig and code tinkerer.
/Mistlethrush
P.S. IITGTBT, IPI
Holy crap!!! They are posting banners on every financial and trading site on the net. I originally saw it on stockcharts.com, now it is all over. Lets see what happens with our humble guinea pig…
I have been reading with great interest the comments surrounding this program and newletter. I had almost talked myself into taking the plunge – now I’m not so sure.
If you are interested, they are currently selling a copy of the Merl on Ebay for US$50.
I asked the question whether this was for a copy of the program itself and received an affirmative yes, it is for the program.
here is the link if you are interested:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250194825371&ih=015&category=68258&ssPageName=STORE:PROMOBOX:NEWLIST#LIST
I am still undecided as to proceed or not, but at least now I have a more balanced view of this rather than just the “Glossy Promo”.
Thanks