NASAA Expands Annual Top Investor Threat List

NASAA expanded its annual listings of the financial products, practices and services, which it believes threaten to trap unsuspecting investors, including small business owners. Andrea Seidt, NASAA President and Ohio Securities Commissioner, expressed concern for NASAA members regarding the lifting of the 80-year-old ban on the advertising of private offerings mandated by the JOBS Act. Ms. Seidt stated that the new general solicitation rules could create opportunities for unregulated third parties to provide ancillary services.

Persistent investor threats in 2013 include:

• private offerings;
• real estate investment schemes;
• affinity fraud;
• scam artists using self-directed IRAs to mask fraud; and
• risky oil gas drilling programs.

New investor threats include:

• proxy trading accounts;
• digital currency
• capital-raising pitfalls for small businesses; and
• unregulated third-party service providers.

See: NASAA 2013 Amended Investor Threat List.
Related news: NASAA to Host Annual Conference on Investor Protection for Securities Regulators and Professionals (September 9, 2013); NASAA Issues a Statement on the JOBS Act and on the JOBS Act Rules (July 10, 2013); NASAA Warning on Speculative Energy Investment (June 18, 2013).