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The practice by brokers of cold-calling potential customers isn’t limited to penny stock promoters. Most major brokerages also allow their representatives to make unsolicited phone calls in the hunt for business.

Some securities regulators say the practice is probably a necessary evil--the easiest way for brokers to seek out new clients, or so the argument goes.

Still, one of cold calling’s biggest detractors is Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr., who has warned that brokers who repeatedly annoy potential clients with unsolicited phone pitches--no matter what the product--threaten to seriously damage Wall Street’s reputation.

As relayed in Barron’s magazine last year, Levitt suggested that the easiest way to get rid of cold-calling brokers is to lie: Tell them you already have an account with another broker at the same firm. Then hang up.