Con man sells phony Apple stock

Sept 23, 2010 - (Tip Report) Los Angeles - It just goes to show that if its too good to be true, you should run like hell. That was case for this 50 year-old Menlo Park, Calif. couple who were duped into buying Apple stock at a steep discount. They forked over 30 grand in the process only to find the deal was a con job and there were no certificates delivered.

A convicted con artist, Roger Miller, shown here in a police photo, had allegedly convinced the couple to pay him $37 per share for Apple stock he claimed to own (APPL closed at $288.92 on Sept 23rd).

According to the police report, the couple paid Miller $15,000 for 404 shares of Apple, Inc. and then bought an additional 297 shares for $11,000, unable to resist the cheap stock offer.

Miller had insisted that he paid by cashier's check and when the couple pressed the con man to deliver the shares or return the money he paid them $26,000 on a checking account that didn't exist. That's when police were called in to investigate.

Miller sits in jail awaiting his court appearance and the couple who where (allegedly) duped into buying Apple stock at a bargain price are out thirty large.

What's really unbelievable about this story is that Miller was already serving a three-year probation for passing $14,000 in bad checks to local Menlo Park banks in 2007 - and he only had three weeks to go before he was a free man.

Miller was arrested Tuesday and of course, pled not guilty when he made his first court appearance on Wednesday.