I just heard this on CNBC. I hope nobody falls for this:
Phone Scam 8/18/2004By Ashley Glass/WCJB TV 20 News
Gainesville residents have been getting some mysterious messages on their answering machine lately. The message sounds like a friend calling and that you have stumbled onto a stock tip. This could just be a series of prank calls, or what stock brokers like to call pumping and dumping. This term refers to when a stock gets hyped by someone who wants to sell it for big bucks. Part of the message says, "Well I'm calling you now. This new company is supposed to develop this billion dollar cancer testing and it's going to go up big this week." Nina Cornwell was a target of this scam. She laughed it off when she realized, "It was obviously a recording...no doubt about it. When I went to pick it up it dropped the call. It was obviously a scam." Local stock brokers have been getting calls on people wanting to jump on the tip. A.G. Edwards Investment Broker John Decker warns, "People should be careful. There aren't too many lunches for free out there. They should be careful. Those hot tips can be dangerous." The call letters of the stock being talked about on the messages are PWRN. It is important to protect yourself. The Gainesville Police Department warns never to exchange confidential information over the phone to avoid an invasion of privacy. (from
And here's another article: 'Accidental' Call Offers Hot Stock Tip
I got a few of those phone calls. They're kind of funny but I shrugged them off as "pump and dump" type of deals.