女兒參與的研究上了BBC新聞

女兒21歲的生日要來了，爹媽隔太遠，隻能讓她自己慶祝了。打電話過去說聲“Happy Birthday”，開玩笑說這下有買酒的自由，可以去酒吧了。女兒說是準備幾個朋友一起去酒吧慶祝的，這是大學生慶祝21歲生日的傳統方式了。

電話裏女兒說起上個暑假和上個學期在校園打工時幫一位教授作的研究，知道老爸老媽不懂她的行當，就告訴老爸她們的研究上了BBC的新聞。女兒的研究集中在數據收集和分析上。幾星期之前她們的研究論文被一個國際會議挑選，女兒還被邀請去作了一個presentation。現在又上了BBC的新聞。老爸開玩笑說：希望這個新聞對你找工作有幫助，別忘了在麵試的時候吹一吹。：）。

下麵是從BBC網站摘錄的新聞：

Investors cash in on web-based scams

By Mark Ward

Technology correspondent, BBC News

Some people are putting money into online scams even though they know they are fraudulent, suggests research.

One of the first significant studies of cons known as High Yield Investment Programs (HYIPs) reveals that a small number of people are trying to use them as regular investment vehicles.

The research suggests that the investors use website tools to help them spot when best to cash out.

Authorities warn that such schemes can backfire with no hope of compensation.

HYIPs are an example of what are known as Ponzi schemes which claim to offer huge returns for those that invest some cash in them. They depend on more and more people being enrolled in the scam, with funds from those who invest late in the scheme being used to reward early entrants.

While the instigator of the fraud makes money, most participants spend a lot of time recruiting more members to prop up their ever dwindling returns.

"It's our belief that there may well be some people making money here," said Dr Richard Clayton, one of the computer security experts behind the study.

"But running one of these scams is certainly far more lucrative than investing in one."

Tracker sites

The researchers estimate that about $6m (£4m) a month passed through the 1600 HYIP schemes they tracked for nine months while gathering data.

"It's not a trivial amount of money," said Dr Clayton.

The schemes offered very different rates of return. The highest return claimed was an interest rate of 440% in 10 minutes, but many others said investors would receive the more modest figure of 1-2% a day.

Dr Clayton said the study uncovered aggregator or "tracker" sites that monitored the Ponzi schemes, some of which lasted for months. The trackers detail the returns the different schemes were paying out.

Using these sites investors spot when they start to crumble and make efforts to recover their initial investment.

"Their only purpose is to help people choose where they can put their money," said Dr Clayton, though he was cautious of drawing any strong conclusions given the lack of corroborating evidence.

"If we believe that what we see on the net is true, then some people get money back and some get more back than they invested," he said.

As with all Ponzi schemes, early investors rely on the naivete of late entrants who may not be aware that they are joining a financial scam that is likely to cost them dear.

"People who come across these sites not understanding them at all could well be misled into thinking this is a good investment," Dr Clayton told the BBC.

Choking off supply

A spokesman for the UK's Financial Services Authority cautioned against getting involved in a Ponzi scheme, even at the early stages.

"Consumers should be wary of any investment offering amazing returns," he said. "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."

He added, because the investment scams were by definition unauthorised, consumers would have no protection or means to recover their money when they collapsed.

The research, carried out with computer scientists Jie Han and Tyler Moore from the Wellesley College in the US, also proposed some ways that regulators and governments could take action to stop their growth.

Regulators could apply pressure to the firms that operated the digital currencies that the scams used and choke off the supply of cash, said Dr Clayton.

Another useful target would be the trackers or aggregators, he suggested, as shuttering the domains they used could restrict access to information about how specific scams operated.

In addition, he said, education could help people spot such schemes.

"This is an area where the more people who know about it the less successful it will be to run one. People will be able to say 'Aha! This is a Ponzi scheme'," he said.

"You need the basic knowledge that 1% a day just cannot work."

How a Ponzi scheme works

1.Original investors are initially rewarded with a high rate of return on their investment, but they need more investors in the scheme to maintain that level of return.

2. More investors are conned into joining the scheme, but as their investments are used to pay the original investors returns and inflate the scheme, they receive less returns on their investments. They in turn seek more investors to increase their returns.

3.Still more investors join the scheme, but receive still fewer returns on their investment. They cycle continues until the number of new investors dwindles, returns dry up and the scheme collapses.

（二0一二年三月二十六日）