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Unethical Website of the Month July 2004
McWhortle Enterprises
Are you comfortable with the concept of your government lying to you for your own good? If so, then you'll probably find July's choice http://www.mcwhortle.com/ as the unethical web site unfair, because it is certainly dishonest for all the "right" reasons.
Back in 2002, when the controversial Harvey Pitt was heading the Security Exchange Commission, some genius at the SEC had a creative idea to protect the public from investment scams. It set up a phony corporation, McWhortle Enterprises, Inc, and put up a web site that not only describes the company but that also encourages visitors to invest on the spot. Those who signify that they are ready to buy get a message from the SEC that says, in effect, "Surprise, sucker! You just fell for an investment scam! If this were a real fake company web site rather than a fake fake company web site courtesy of your ever-watchful government agency, you would be blowing your hard earned dollars right now! Be more careful, dummy! Check out companies before you give them money! What's the matter with you?
It is pretty convincing stuff:
McWhortle Enterprises, Inc.
McWhortle Enterprises is an established and well-known manufacturer of biological defense mechanisms. Fortune 500 companies routinely use McWhortle Defense systems to protect their far-flung executives living in dangerous areas. These discreet, confidential safeguards have for years given employees and their families peace of mind.
Now, for the first time, McWhortle Enterprises is offering a product to the general public: the new Bio-Hazard Alert Detector. Running quietly on two double-A batteries, the Bio-Hazard Alert Detector emits an audible beep and flashes when in the presence of all known bio-hazards. The Bio-Hazard Alert Detector, measuring only 3 by 7 inches, is small enough to slip into a man's jacket pocket, a woman's purse or a child's backpack.
The Bio-Hazard Alert Detector works by detecting microscopic levels of hazardous bio-organisms. It can detect even the finest-milled, weapons-grade biohazards from 50 feet, long before the risk of inhalation or cutaneous infection, by testing for the distinctive surface leptins. Proven effective to just .02 microns per cubic meter of air, the Bio-Hazard Detector has gained instant acceptance in four test markets, spread throughout the Midwest. Within hours the product sold out of each store, with no advertising and only word-of-mouth endorsement within each community.
Want to know more? Click here.
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The site even has an audio message from McWhortle's fake CEO, and fake testimonials. And when you click there, you get:
Pre-IPO Investment Oversubscribed!
McWhortle Enterprises has had to stop accepting investors for Stage 1 of its Pre-IPO investment after the program was over-subscribed by nearly 200%. Because of the enormous demand, we will, for a very limited time, accept new investors into this program.
The Stage 2 share price means that current investors have already made an average 217% annualized profit! (Dividends have been excluded from that calculation.)
Bidding is now accepted for Stage 2 of the McWhortle Enterprises Pre-IPO offering. Estimated share value is approximately $10, which will, upon conclusion of the IPO offering in three (3) months, be worth more than 400 times the initial investment. To bid on these shares, you must quickly e-mail us the number of shares you wish to purchase, together with your major credit card number and social security number (for identification) so we can reserve your slot.
Bids are time stamped by date/hour/minute/second of receipt. When you are ready to buy, click here.
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150,000 potential investors visited the site in the first three days. It's fallen off a lot now, but McWhortle was just the first. The SEC has generated other fake cites, and is very pleased with itself.
Naturally, the SEC also had to lie to get people to visit the web site: it sent out press releases to unsuspecting news sources and internet sites.
You may feel differently, but this is too much self-justified dishonesty for the Ethics Scoreboard. We're not comfortable with the idea that the government can set up scams, not to catch criminals, but to teach us lessons. It would be far preferable for the SEC to seek another way that doesn't require tricking others into publishing phony releases or enticing gullible citizens into believing fictional copy. The government is too powerful, frankly, to so casually embrace a "the end justifies the means" philosophy where basic honesty is concerned. Our verdict: leave the clever scams to the bad guys; it's the government's job to catch and punish them. And it's our job to use our brains and not be easy marks. We appreciate the good intentions, but let's declare government lying a bad thing, period.
After all, it can become a bad habit.