CFEs can deter fraud resulting from irresponsible, anonymous Internet postings, but they can only do it with assistance from their in-house or retained legal counsel. Counsel will know the pitfalls and domestic and international laws that CFEs need to consider when investigating cybersmear attacks. These comments were posted on siliconinvestor.com, owned and operated by InfoSpace Inc., an Internet Service Provider (ISP):
“TMRT [2TheMart.com Inc.] is a Ponzi scam that Charles Ponzi would be proud of. … The company’s CEO, Magliarditi, has defrauded employees in the past. The company’s other large shareholder, Rebeil, defrauded customers in the past. … they were dumped by their accountants. … these guys are friggin liars. … why haven’t they told the public this yet. … Liars and criminals. … Lying, cheating, thieving, stealing, lowlife criminals. … Look out below. … this stock has had it. … get short or sell your position now while you still can. … They [TMRT] are not building anything except extensions on their homes. … bail out now.”
The comments were made by numerous anonymous Internet users, who had published allegedly libelous comments against 2TheMart.com Inc.