I think it's hilarious they don't properly cover all the other scams out there, but somebody zooms them. CNBC MARKET GAME SCAMSTERS SKIRTED LAW By JANET WHITMAN June 9, 2007 -- With a $1 million prize up for grabs, contestants in CNBC's online stock-picking contest came up with an array of illicit schemes to scam the game, the financial news TV network said yesterday. CNBC, which launched a probe two weeks ago amid player complaints of rampant cheating, acknowledged that some scamsters may have broken the law to rack up huge gains as they bet on stocks with play money. The General Electric-owned network is looking into whether one or more players came up with a computer program that could bypass the contest's security measures, potentially allowing stock trades to be illegally backdated. A number of players also figured out a way to cheat the contest by changing trades after the market closed at 4 p.m. to take advantage of price run-ups. They could put in the trade after hours, but still lock in the much cheaper closing price. CNBC said it has tapped two information security consultants to investigate the computer programming scams. At least one player also may have illegally manipulated the market to boost the price of stocks bet on in the individual's portfolio. An independent securities expert is looking into the matter, CNBC said. The 10-week contest ended May 25. CNBC was supposed to declare a winner - the player with the most valuable portfolio - by July 8. "It is more important to ensure the individual awarded the Grand Prize is in compliance with the rules," CNBC said in a statement yesterday. Irate players have been firing off complaints about the contest on Internet chat rooms for weeks, with many angry that CNBC didn't deal with the suspicious trading sooner. "If someone trades once and makes 20 percent in a day that's definitely possible," said Jeff Graber, a Top 20 player who complained to CNBC about the cheating more than a week before the network took action, told The Post. "But when they do it day after day it becomes statistically impossible. We're talking 5 billion to one odds." The game has been a boon for traffic on CNBC's recently relaunched Web site. "The contest is really the site's centerpiece," said one industry insider. "Now you wonder if they can go to that well again. It's definitely a p.r. hit for them." Many other financial Web sites offer contests to let visitors try out their stock-picking savvy. TheStreet.com, for example, is about to introduce "Beat the Street 2.0!," with $100,000 in prize money. The contest site said it's shut down for "maintenance." A Street.com spokeswoman couldn't immediately say whether it was related to concerns about potential scamsters. janet.whitman@nypost.com