At first glance, National Inflation Association (NIA) looks to be a legit site where they talk about inflation through their website at inflation.us

The majority of people have most likely stumbled across the National Inflation Association through their online videos on YouTube. The NIA have produced numerous well-put-together documentary videos on YouTube.

Some of their videos are very interesting and do a great job at sucking you in to visit their site and sign up for their free newsletter.

They have a variety of popular videos that have seen millions of views. Here are some of NIA’s most viewed videos on YouTube: The Day the Dollar Died, End of Liberty, College Conspiracy, Meltup, Fall Of The Republic, The Dollar Bubble

What the National Inflation Association really is

According to their website, the National Inflation Association or the NIA which they also go by, considers themselves an organization that is dedicated to preparing Americans for hyperinflation and helping Americans not only survive, but prosper in the upcoming hyperinflationary crisis.

While the NIA does provide some interesting perspectives on inflation, however, the site is not really meant for that. The National Inflation Association basically runs a pump and dump operation. They engage in pump and dump tactics where they try to manipulate their latest stock pick.

Many that stumble across the National Inflation Association are unaware that the NIA is a pump and dump operation, which is where they send out emails about a recommended stock they should buy.

They try to pump up a micro-cap stock or penny stock that they currently own which has a low-float and can easily be manipulated.

They send out emails to the thousands on their email list urging their subscribers to buy shares in it. And when others buy the stock, it causes the price of the stock to increase.

Does this make the National Inflation Association a scam? No, not necessarily.

What they do is legal because of their disclaimer.

In their emails they send out there is a disclaimer that states they hold positions in the stock they feature in their email and also states in the fine print that they may buy or sell at any time. So, this makes it legal.

Is it moral? Of course not because there are unsuspecting investors out there that buy the stocks they recommend. Some of these investors don’t know when to get out and end up losing a lot of money.

Peter Schiff explains how they operate in the video below:

Who is behind National Inflation Association

The National Inflation Association is run mainly by two stock promoters: Gerard Adams and Jonathan Lebed.

Both of these guys run other websites where they get compensated thousands of dollars for profiling small companies and sending emails to investors urging investors to buy shares in it.

Gerard Adams operates the website WallStreetGrand.com, a stock promotion website that sends out stock alerts on penny stocks.

Jonathan Lebed also runs his own stock promotion site lebed.biz. Lebed gained national attention back in 2001 when the SEC accused him of fraudulently manipulating stocks in a pump and dump scheme.

Authorities said he purchased thinly traded stocks and hyped them on the Internet. Once these stocks rose he sold them for a profit. He later settled with the SEC and payed a $285,000 fine (see wiki).

It is also believed that some type of offshore hedge fund is a partner with the National Inflation Association operations. This offshore hedge fund buys up massive shares prior to the pump and sells the shares once the stock rises for huge profits.

How To Profit Off The National Inflation Association

While there are some unaware investors that have gotten caught in one of NIA’s stock hypes and lost money, there are ways to profit from the National Inflation Association’s stock picks. You can profit from it if you understand how a pump and dump works.

Those in the stock traders’ community are well aware of what the NIA is and how they operate. Many traders that understand how the game works have made nice gains off of their pumps. Both going long and short.

The majority of their pumps have seen the biggest gains the first week of the pump, however, there has been a few occasions where they have been successful at moving a stock months into the pump such as when they pumped BVSN.

NIA’s stock pumps typcialy last a few months, some have lasted longer and some have been shorter. They will continue to pump the stock as it continues to slide and they will stop promoting without warning to subscribers. Once they stop pumping the stock, it typically sinks like a rock.

If you are newbie and don’t understand how pump and dumps work, then it is best that you than stay from their picks. You will most likely lose money. You should never invest in their picks as a long term investment.

Some of National Inflation Association’s past stock picks (pumps)

National Inflation Association doesn’t pump unknown companies in horrible financial shape like many penny stock promoters do. They typical target stocks to pump with a very small market cap and have a relatively small float, hence these stocks are very volatile and easy to move.

Here’s a look at some of their past stock picks (pumps) the past year:

Concurrent Computer Corp. (CCUR)
CCUR is the NIA’s latest pick (pump). They first recommended this stock back in February of 2013 when the stock was trading around $6.50. Once they first recommended CCUR as their newest pick, the stock quickly rose to just over the $8 per share within a few days on massive volume. However, the volume has since died down.

It is now in the month of May and the NIA is still hard at work pumping the stock. Despite NIA is still pumping CCUR, they haven’t been able to push the stock much higher. The stock hasn’t done much the past month and is currently trading in the $7 range.

Synacor Inc. (SYNC)
SYNC, a provider of solutions for delivery of online content and services, was definitely a stock that fit the profile of the type of stocks they pump.

SYNC was a newly traded stock that went public in early 2012 at around $5 per share. Prior to July, SYNC had a relatively small float, so this made the stock very volatile and easy to move. (In August more shares of SYNC were released onto the market.)

NIA started pumping SYNC in May of 2012. They began sending emails out when SYNC was trading around $8. The stock hit an all-time high of $18 in July.

They pumped SYNC for a few months, and they still recommended it even while the stock began to crash back down. In the months to follow the stock continued to crash which partly had to do with its IPO share lock-up expiration, as new shares of SYNC became available to the market.

A share lock-up expiration increases the float size of a stock by freeing up the shares of certain investors whose shares were restricted for the stock’s first 6 months of trading. This is partly what caused SYNC to move lower.

SYNC is currently trading around the $3 mark.

BroadVision Inc. (BVSN)
BVSN trades on the NASDAQ and the company is engaged in e-business solutions, such as its enterprise social networking platform for businesses.

BVSN is another low-float stock that definitely fit the profile of the type of stocks the NIA tries to pump.

They first recommended BVSN in the $8 range during December of 2011. NIA sent out email after email claiming BVSN is the next big thing in enterprise social networking platform for businesses that helped drive interest to the stock.

The stock was very volatile, but continued to reach new highs over the next few months. BVSN reached its peak at $56 per share in March of 2012.

The stock quickly crashed back down in the months to follow to the $8 range.