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Posted: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 15:48 AEDT

Email scam wins ASIC's 'pie in the sky' award
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has honoured some of the more outrageous investor scams to emerge last
year.

Taking out the prestigious "pie in the sky" award in the "too good to be true" category is an email circulated by a person claiming
to be Adam Petersen promising investors not millions or billions, but trillions of dollars in returns.

ASIC director of consumer protection Peter Kell says although the competition was tough, Mr Petersen's fanciful claim was a standout
winner.

"He claims the profits on his trading system have consistently exceeded 890 per cent annually," Mr Kell said.

"The problem with that is if he invested just one single United States dollar 15 years ago, he'd now have reached a level of wealth
of $31 trillion, so it's a rather ludicrous claim but unfortunately these people sometime hit their target."

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