The Amplification Files - Week 3: How a Yahoo Finance Listing Gave Scammers a Lift

In weeks 1 and 2 of The Amplification Files, we showed how a criminal boiler room operation hijacked Penn Park Capital Management Limited's identity and presented itself as “Europe’s leading fund manager,” with bogus releases appearing on the London and Frankfurt stock exchanges.

Yahoo Finance reaches far more people. It’s one of the most visited finance sites in the world, with well over 150 million visitors per month. When a press release lands there, many treat it as a quick credibility check. That instinct is understandable, but it’s also exactly what scammers bank on.

This week, we cover how the impostors trading on the Penn Park name used mainstream syndication to surface on Yahoo Finance and gain a layer of legitimacy they hadn’t earned.

What Yahoo Finance say and why it matters

Company profiles are compiled from data partners and public filings. Press releases are often syndicated from commercial newswires.

Most users don’t inspect the plumbing. They see the Yahoo Finance frame, a company name and a stream of news. When the bogus release appeared inside that context, it looked like normal corporate activity. Why would that be suspicious if it is published on one of the most heavily used and popular finance pages in the world?

The scammers know this and have a well-practised approach - they submit a press release through a newswire, most of which carry strong disclaimers that they do not verify the content of the releases they promote.

Yahoo Finance ingests feeds from those wires, and the fake Penn Park Capital Management release received instant amplification.

A Google search would quickly generate what looks like validation, as the same release would be found replicated across multiple syndication endpoints, scraped onto small news blogs, and presented on a Yahoo Finance page that feels familiar and reliable. The repetition creates credibility; however, in reality, none of it proves the issuer is real.

The Yahoo Finance Credibility Gap

On the Yahoo Finance home page, users will see a range of declarations designed to generate confidence.

“BEHIND EVERY GREAT INVESTOR IS YAHOO FINANCE”

Or:

“YAHOO FINANCE - STAY AHEAD WITH BREAKING NEWS & DATA”

Unfortunately, Yahoo Finance also relies on disclaimers, and deep down in the small print of their website, there is a link to a disclaimer where they explicitly state this.

“All data provided on Yahoo Finance is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended for trading or investing purposes.”

This is the Yahoo Finance credibility gap - on the one hand, investors are encouraged to trust their service with messages of reassurance on their homepage, but a disclaimer designed to protect them and not the consumer enables them to publish information that gives fraudsters unwarranted credibility.

It’s also a duty of care gap. No one expects Yahoo Finance to audit every line. But if a platform confers visibility and a sense of legitimacy, there’s a reasonable expectation that obvious impostors are filtered out before their material is repeated at scale.

The simple control

Upstream checks. A simple check against official registers would have flagged an entity without authorisation, and a technology company with Yahoo's capabilities should be able to achieve this.

Why this case matters for mainstream platforms

1. Reach: Yahoo Finance has enormous exposure. A single fraudulent notice will echo into watchlists, apps, newsletters and media monitoring tools.

2. Opportunism. These releases often appear when the sales teams behind boiler room scams are most active. The Yahoo link becomes a script line. The fraudsters know this and advise their victims to “Google us” - and they do.

3. Efficient: Even after takedowns, cached pages and secondary sites keep the trail alive for months. Even today, the press releases from the fake Penn Park Capital Management are still featuring in search results.

Conclusion

Yahoo Finance isn’t the root cause. The problem is the automatic lift it provides to whatever releases it publishes. When a fraudulent release lands there, it doesn’t look like a wild claim on a random blog. It looks like routine company news sitting inside a site that millions of investors use as a reference point. That framing changes behaviour. It’s why boiler room fraudsters tell victims to Google them.

If Yahoo Finance wants to stay a trusted front door for everyday investors, the minimum standard has to be simple checks that keep impostors out. The moment a fraudster's message gets amplified and framed as normal corporate news, the damage is done, and its impact has no geographical boundaries.

If a press release openly promoted criminal activity, it would be stopped before publication. Investors deserve the same duty of care, so fraudulent material isn’t given a platform or hidden behind disclaimers.

Authored by: The Coalition of Cyber Investigators

©2025 The Coalition of Cyber Investigators. All rights reserved.

The Coalition of Cyber Investigators is a collaboration between

Paul Wright (United Kingdom) - Experienced Cybercrime, Intelligence (OSINT & HUMINT) and Digital Forensics Investigator;

Neal Ysart (Philippines) - Elite Investigator & Strategic Risk Advisor, Ex-Big 4 Forensic Leader; and

Lajos Antal (Hungary) Highly Experienced Cyber Forensics, Investigations and Cybercrime Expert.

The Coalition unites leading experts to deliver cutting edge research, OSINT, Investigations & Cybercrime Advisory Services worldwide.

Our two co-founders, Paul Wright and Neal Ysart, offer over 80 years of combined professional experience. Their careers span law enforcement, cyber investigations, open source intelligence, risk management, and strategic advisory roles across multiple continents.

They have been instrumental in setting formative legal precedents and stated cases in cybercrime investigations, as well as contributing to the development of globally accepted guidance and standards for handling digital evidence.

Their leadership and expertise form the foundation of the Coalition’s commitment to excellence and ethical practice.

Alongside them, Lajos Antal, a founding member of our Boiler Room Investment Fraud Practice, brings deep expertise in cybercrime investigations, digital forensics and cyber response, further strengthening our team’s capabilities and reach.