Kamardin and his accomplices allegedly hacked into four online trading accounts of unsuspecting investors, selling off their holdings in higher-valued companies to purchase shares in Thomas Equipment, a firm whose stock that day soared from 26 cents to 80 cents a share, authorities said. The trading volume of Thomas increased tenfold.
Kamardin, having bought shares in that company earlier, would more than triple his stake by selling at the right time, after the price had been artifiicially driven up.
Of course, once the stock falls back to its normal equilibrium price, the people whose accounts were hacked will have lost two thirds of any of their money that was funneled into those stocks.
