Belize was trending in US business news today because of the soaring stock of a dubious tech outfit which claims to be headquartered at the Matalon Building in Belize City.
Various articles from CNBC, Bloomberg News and other outlets took note of CYNK Technology and its social networking site Introbiz, which offers users the, quote, "ability to socially connect to individuals such as celebrities, business owners, and talented IT professionals..."
CNBC notes that "CYNK's stock was valued at less than ten cents in June, and rocketed to over $20 dollars at one point on Thursday morning. It adds that the company's stock gained nearly 25,000% in 16 trading days, giving it a market cap of over $5 billion dollars." That's billion with a "b"! So is someone in Belize making mega bucks over this? Apparently not. The address appears to be bogus - the company is not headquartered at the Matalon as it claims. We checked and learned that when Matalon management e-mailed the company today asking basically, "what's up?", they replied saying, quote, "The address is being removed. Our error - apologies."
And while the address is apparently a wash, it seems that so too is the explosive rise in share value. Experts say it has the trappings of what looks like a "pump and dump" scheme - meaning the value of the stock is artificially inflated by insiders and then dumped once they make money off a stock which is of little or no value.
