The system glitch was due to one of their vendors giving them an incorrect data feed, said the company. "In no way Zecco Trading was trying to be funny regarding such a sensitive matter as your buying power or account balance, nor would it even consider doing this," said Zecco. By early Monday, the notoriously humor-deprived SEC gave the company a ring.
The affected members weren't laughing either, as evidenced by their posts in the Zecco forums...
Certainly a foul-up on Zecco's part, but c'mon people, only in Monopoly does a "Bank Error In Your Favor" mean you get to keep the cash.
Zecco April Fools' Day: Million Dollar Account Balances [My Money Blog]
Woohoo! I'm a millionaire! Sorta. Maybe not [Zecco Forums]
Note: an earlier version of this post was posted on Sunday afternoon. It was revised Monday morning to reflect new information released by Zecco.
]]>@h3llc4t: Um...yes, they would have...
I work in HR and, from time to time, we make a mistake and double pay someone. Everyone of them refuses to give it back (usually because they've already spent it) and get upset if we have to dock their next paycheck.
People just see free money and start spending it thinking if its not there they don't have to pay it back.
]]>It stands to reason that there were at least a couple of new traders for whom it never occurred to them that they might be committing "securities fraud" or incur losses by playing with money in their accounts. They are paying Zecco to manage their accounts, so its well within reason that "Zecco has got everything under control". Zecco messed up, I think they should eat the loss.
That being said, me and my money would be gone either way.
]]>Except for Taco Bell....that whole Liberty Bell thing = the most brilliant classic example of goodwill/PR/free publicity over an April Fools Day stunt EVAH
]]>Although they are being suspiciously coy about it.
]]>@ColoradoShark: true dat
]]>@ealexand: There you go. And while we're at it, when people go to the hospital, you should also pay only what you can afford. Lung cancer from smoking, no insurance? No problem. But Mr. John Q. Responsible in the next room- that will be a $10,000 band-aid, pleasure doing business with you.
Really? You f-ing retard.
]]>@Trai_Dep: Forget the transaction fees- the need to cover the loss too. Sure, the customers were stupid to try to go through with it, but isn't that one of the rules of good programming- assume the user will do the stupidest things possible?
But I am still wondering what evidence Consumerist has that this was an April Fool's Joke, other than it happened on April 1. From what I read here, seems like none.
]]>@Trai_Dep: PollyQ's comments ARE completely hypothetical, which is the point. Consumerist stated a fact that Zecco did this themselves as a prank, yet there is no indication that is the case.
]]>Oh hell, companies shouldn't play April Fool's jokes at all. Usually they are stupid and not funny.
]]>Is that a legit question? Really?
Do you think the average trader with $2K in his acocunt has any clue what a margin call is? Or that they'd be on the hook for that cash once the trade is cleared?
The average joe schmoe trader doesn't trade on margin, they trade on cash.
]]>Many people who trade regularly may not have noticed anything was wrong because they know that the firm will back them up to a certain amount.
]]>At 6:17 AM, paul_irish wrote:
# @michieldeboer @tonyleachsf Love the $6.8 million I have now. As do my friends. :) Thx @zecco !!
At 8:16 A.M, Zecco replied:
@paul_irish Your temporary millionaire status has come to an end. We hope you did not spend the $6.8M in the meantime.
At 10:29 A.M., Zecco wrote:
@c_mpt_n @traderjon We're glad you are taking it as an April Fool's joke.
If this was some type of error or attack, Zecco was aware of it for several hours before they stopped it. It almost seems like some kind of Art Carlson Thanksgiving Day scenario.
]]>And joking around like that with peoples money in the middle of a recession is MEAN.
]]>And, yes, slander is spoken & libel is written, but I was using "slanderous" in its general dictionary definition rather than its strict legal sense.
]]>This isn't like a bank accidentally depositing money into your checking account, but more like your credit card doubling your credit limit.
]]>I worked in IT for a financial services company for 10 years, and I find it nearly impossible that a company would do something like this as any kind of officially sanctioned action. Much more likely to be one of the following:
* Internal hacker / disgruntled employee
* External hacker / malicious competitor
* System glitch (things go wrong the other 364 days of the year, why not April 1?)
Obviously Zecco screwed up majorly somewhere along the line, but it's irresponsible, if not outright slanderous, for Consumerist to say that they did it on purpose without any supporting evidence whatsoever.
]]>So let's kick down the hyperbole a notch, because some people forget that The Consumerist isn't real news reporting or journalism, and thinking that Zecco really did play a monster April Fools joke intentionally. Clearly, that's not what happened.
Now, I would never, ever trade with Zecco after seeing something like this happen--this is BAD POOL. But that being said, the slant of the article, and especially the last sentence, is ridiculous.
Disclosure: Never traded with Zecco. Trade with Thinkorswim, who have a great sense of humor and would still never actually fuck with their customers' account balances.
]]>Between zero day for that Conficker mess and April fools, frankly I'd be more freaked out and annoyed to find my balance was so far out of whack.
Isn't buying and selling without actual money or stock the way naked short selling works?
]]>Maybe they thought Ed McMahon was working for Zecco..
]]>Now if this was an april fools joke... that is pretty stupid ont he part of zecco, but foolish on customers to spend it as well.
Uhh, Zecco's going to eat the transaction fees, right? Considering that it was their "joke"?
]]>I'm not completely convinced the company was behind the balances- but I don't believe their responsibility ends there. Their duty is to protect the customers money while online trading. Of course, the customers who fell for these ridiculous balances instead of informing the company aren't out of the woods yet either. It was APRIL FOOLS DAY.
What's worse- a trading company thats susceptible to hackers that ADDED money, or just susceptible to hackers period?
Lucy, you got sum 'splainin to do.
]]>Even if it was, just as with bank errors, ATMs spitting out the wrong amount and cashing fraudulent checks from Nigeria, spending money that isn't yours will get you in trouble.
]]>What is the evidence that Zecco did it as an April Fools joke? From the information here, it looks like someone messed with their system and caused it to happen without their knowledge. So the problem would be not that they're malicious jokesters, but that they allow malicious jokesters to creep into their system.
]]>