Unwary investors are in danger today of being taken for a ride on the information superhighway. State securities regulators are concerned about the surge in illicit investment schemes on commercial online services (such as Prodigy, America Online and Compuserve), dedicated bulletin boards and the informal web of computer networks that make up the Internet. Four million U.S. households with computers and modems providing access to the online world are already being exposed to hundreds of fraudulent and abusive investment schemes, including stock manipulations, pyramid scams and Ponzi schemes.
On June 30, 1994, the New Jersey Bureau of Securities and the Securities Division of the Missouri Secretary of State announced the first major regulatory actions against consumer fraud and abuse in cyberspace. At least seven state securities agencies now have a total of more than two dozen investigation into investment-related cyberschemes underway, according to the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the national voice of the 50 state securities agencies.
As NASAA President and Iowa Securities Bureau Chief Craig Goettsch explains: “Unfortunately, the same technology that works to inform and empower small investors is now being used to pick their pockets. I want to make it clear that state securities regulators are not ‘technophobes.’ We are not here to bash the commercial online services or to suggest that people steer clear of the Internet. Our sole concern is with the swindlers and other sharp operators who are exploiting cyberspace. The problem is not cyberspace; the problem is the misuse and abuse of cyberspace.”
Mail this post
Posted under Other Scams
This post was written by admin on December 18, 2008
