Victory State Bank Echoes FBI Warning of 'Pump and Dump' Fraud

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Ever mindful of consumer protection, Victory State Bank is calling attention to the FBI’s warning of a market manipulation commonly referred to as a "pump and dump.”

According to the FBI, this type of fraud creates artificial buying pressure for a targeted security, generally a low-trading volume issuer in the over-the-counter securities market largely controlled by the fraud perpetrators.

This artificially increased trading volume has the effect of artificially increasing the price of the targeted security (i.e., the "pump"), which is rapidly sold off into the inflated market for the security by the fraud perpetrators (i.e., the "dump"); resulting in illicit gains to the perpetrators and losses to innocent third party investors.

Typically, the increased trading volume is generated by inducing unwitting investors to purchase shares of the targeted security through false or deceptive sales practices and/or public information releases.

A modern variation on this scheme involves largely foreign-based computer criminals gaining unauthorized access to the online brokerage accounts of unsuspecting victims in the United States.

These victim accounts are then utilized to engage in coordinated online purchases of the targeted security to affect the pump portion of a manipulation, while the fraud perpetrators sell their pre-existing holdings in the targeted security into the inflated market to complete the dump.

The FBI offers the following tips for avoiding market-manipulation fraud:

    • Don't believe the hype.
    • Find out where the stock trades.
    • Independently verify claims.
    • Research the opportunity.
    • Beware of high-pressure pitches.
    • Always be skeptical.

For additional information on “pump and dump” fraud, visit the FBI online at www.fbi.gov.

About Victory State Bank:

VSB Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSBN) is the one-bank holding company for Victory State Bank. As Staten Island, N.Y.’s only community-based commercial bank, Victory State Bank operates five full-service locations on the Island: The main office in the community of Great Kills, and branches in the communities of West Brighton, St. George, Dongan Hills and Rosebank. For additional information, Victory State Bank may be reached at 718-979-1100 or visited online http://www.victorystatebank.com .

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