SEC Educational Videos Aim to Help Investors Spot and Avoid Fraud

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and Retail Strategy Task Force this week released new videos and Investor Alerts to help show investors what fraud looks like. Fraudsters will use every gimmick they can think of to get their hands on investors’ hard-earned money. These videos, along with our other investor education materials on Investor.gov, provide practical information that Main Street investors can use to avoid fraud and become empowered to make the best investment decisions possible for a strong financial future.

“One way to protect your hard-earned money is to learn how to spot investment scams and to stay clear of them,” said SEC Chairman Jay Clayton. “These videos will help investors identify and avoid actual fraudulent schemes that we have recently charged.”

The fraudulent tactics revealed in these alerts and videos are based on real-life cases.  For example, the SEC recently took enforcement action against boiler-room-like call centers that swindled investors by allegedly: (1) creating a false sense of urgency and asking investors to submit personal documents for the defendants to use if investors disputed unauthorized credit card charges in SEC v. Petersen; and (2) promising investors highly profitable results, directing investors to wire money to third-party companies, and instructing investors to tell their banks that the wires were for other purposes in SEC v. Senderov and Babazara.

Investor Alerts:

• Don’t Fall for an Investment Scam -- Investor Alert
• Don’t Buy Into an Investment Scam -- Investor Alert