Internet stock-trading house Zecco wants the world to know that it couldn’t possibly have been stupid enough to concoct an April Fools Day prank that had customers seeing fantastical seven-figure account balances, and, believing themselves to be just playing along, trading as though the new-found fortunes were real.
They were not, of course, although trading losses and fees accrued through the “just playing along” turned out to be more problematic.
According to the Consumerist:
UPDATE: Zecco says via email, “We did not perpetrate an April Fool’s Joke on our customers,” and a message they posted on their forum says, “Some clients may experience incorrect display of Buying Power and Account Balances. Please know that in most cases you may view your correct Start of Day balances under Account Records on the trading platform.” Furthermore, “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.”
The Consumerist had reported exactly the opposite yesterday in that post headlined: “Worst April Fools Ever: Online Brokerage Zecco Pretends To Give Away Millions, Panics When People Start Spending.” I had suspected that something might be wrong with that post — or that the story was changing — when a link to it was non-responsive earlier this morning. It and others like it had caused quite a stir among online investors since the Wednesday incident.
Now we learn that Zecco would prefer to be known as unreliable rather than reckless. Seems like a good call, although not everyone is convinced.
Of course, this little kerfuffle had escaped my attention altogether last week because I spent a good deal of April Fools Day morning stuck in an elevator.
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