Ethics Profile: Timothy Sykes

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by pcp198, Nov 17, 2012.

  1. pcp198

    pcp198

    Note: This thread was created to create awareness of Tim Sykes bussiness dealings and ethics. Please leave debate of overpriced dvds and illiquid penny stocks to other threads. All facts are based on information available to me at this time and may include errors and consequently should not be assumed accurate.


    FACT 1:

    Over the past few months Sykes has paraded himself on youtube in a show of conspicuous consumption, showing off flashy cars, lavish vacations, beach houses.. which led to this exchange with an angry viewer.
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    FACT 2:

    Top results googling 'tim sykes scam' all lead to his website.
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    FACT 3:

    Websites with names that would appear to be to warn others of a negative experience with Tim, oddly enough have been found to offer overwhelmingly positive reviews.
    Note: No claim is being made that Tim is the owner of these sites.

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    FACT 4:

    Sykes is listed as a co-owner of scambook.com (as of July 2012).
    Scambook has been criticized for there business model, which allows anyone to open a complaint on the website against a company for free, than charges the company $99 to $499 a month to use there 'complaint resolution service'.


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    OPINION:
    Close friend of Tim and fellow millionaire Andrew Bachman was caught at the end of this interview calling Tim 'one of the best hustlers I know'.

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  2. I would bet the country (thats right, the entire country, lol) that this guy can't make a dime trading.

    having said that, hey, if he makes a bunch of money selling silly nonsense, well.. i suppose he's doing something right.
     
  3. All that means is he has done SEO work to make his site rank well for "tim sykes scam." It's a well-known marketing strategy. A percentage of the people searching for "tim sykes scam" will come across his website and end up buying his product.

    That doesn't mean his website is a scam. It might be a scam, but just because it ranks #1 for "tim sykes scam" does not mean it is a scam.

    You can make any site rank for anything with the correct SEO work.
     
  4. Also, it seems all the big name traders make more from teaching than from trading.

    Maybe I should start teaching. I mean, I do run a profitable journal in the journals forum with all entries and exits called ahead of time. I don't post vague after the fact charts that only show winning trades, and I don't double talk my way out of questions with ambiguity, or post replies in riddles.

    Has anyone seen Tim's stuff? Is it legit, specific, and useable, or is it more vague, unusable nosense like 99.999% of instruction material out there?
     
  5. @OP, let me give you a quick lesson in internet marketing.

    The following are true 99% of the time:

    1) if it is for sale online and is offering to teach you how to make money, it is a scam.

    2) "review sites" that tell you which products are best are affiliate driven scams. They recommend products based on the products that pay the highest commissions, not which products are the best. These sites exist to make commissions for the owners, not to give the reader the best information.

    3) "scam sites" that tell you which products are scams are usually also scams, kind of the opposite of #2.

    Of course there are exceptions. Rare exceptions. Very, very rare.

    Of course there are legit review sites, etc., but with the ease with which anyone can make a website, most of them are scams. If it's not a well-known reviewing company (such as Cnet, or Consumer Reports), or if it's not an OBVIOUSLY neutral and objective website, it's most likely a fake-review/affiliate site -- possibly even run by the creator of the product being reviewed.

    Imagine you make a program about teaching people how to trade. You're not selling enough, so what do you do? You make a "trading products review" website. You say yours is awesome and you say everyone else's sucks. It's unethical, but it happens all the time online.
     
  6. Pekelo

    Pekelo

    Surf likes him. Enough said... :)
     
  7. Not sticking up for the guy but he did take his bar mitzvah $$from like 10,000 or something to 1.5 million. He did this back when the Nasdaq was rocking; this was legit, he posted on here for a while and those threads were pretty funny ( ie clown shoes, etc.). He shorts pump and dump penny stocks, that is the strategy more or less. You could argue he is doing a public service by taking $$ from the evil pump and dumpers. Can't speak to whether his stuff is a scam, lots of people think paying $4.25 for a Starbucks latte is a scam.
     
  8. pcp198

    pcp198

    I didnt say his website was a scam, Fact #2 points out search results with the term 'scam', appear unusual.


    People have a right to make poor, uneducated purchases with there money, anyone who capitalizes on that is not, and should not be called scammer (assuming claims made can be substantiated). However, if a person does there due diligence before buying a product or service and unknowingly runs into search results that may be biased or manipulated, thats where I have an issue.
    I've called Tim a shark not a scammer, no doubt, he's an incredibly talented salesman, but the facts I listed, in my opinion raise ethical concerns.
     
  9. He was even featured on Wall Street Warriors. A guy had a streak during the bull market with his penny stock strategy but now he's just milking his popularity. Oh, he also won CNBC challenge. He is one of the managers on covestor.com, his performance is not bad actually.
     
  10. Yeah, I do remember hearing that. That was pretty cool.
     
    #10     Nov 17, 2012