SEC Moves Against Alleged Online Scams

Continuing their “sweep” against alleged Internet investment scams, federal securities regulators said Thursday that they charged nine people and four companies with online fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that separate schemes deceived investors around the world by fraudulently promoting stocks via Internet junk mail, online newsletters, Internet postings and Web sites.

The market watchdog agency made the accusations in a civil lawsuit and three administrative actions. All four cases involved people allegedly promoting stocks without disclosing they were paid for it. The suit also involved an alleged “pump-and-dump” scheme in which promoters purportedly pushed up a stock’s price by making false claims about the company and later sold their own shares to cash in on the inflated price.

The accused individuals, including one current and two former stockbrokers, promoted more than 56 publicly traded companies and received more than $450,000 for doing so, the SEC said. The companies are fairly small and their stocks are relatively cheap, risky and thinly traded.

SEC online-investment alerts can be found on the “Investor assistance and complaints” link of the agency’s Web site at https://www.sec.gov, or by calling (800) SEC-0330.