This alert tells you how to spot potential “stock swap” scams, how to evaluate the offers you hear about, and where to turn for help.

What to Watch Out For
Although fraudsters use a wide variety of techniques to carry out their “worthless stock swap” scams, most of these frauds boil down to a predictable formula: a persuasive pitch, which nearly always contains false assurances of legitimacy, followed by demands for money. Here are some “red flags” to avoid:

• Aggressive Cold Calls from "Boiler-Rooms" — Con artists posing as U.S. or United Kingdom brokers will first identify investors who have lost money investing in “microcap” stocks, the low-priced and thinly traded stocks issued by the smallest of U.S. companies. Operating from remote boiler-rooms, they then mount an aggressive cold calling or emailing campaign, focusing their pitch on loss recovery. They might offer to swap a poorly performing stock for an established, blue chip stock — or they will claim that their firm or an anonymous “client” wants to purchase the shares directly.
  
  
• Impressive Websites Serving as Fronts for Virtual Offices — To make their schemes appear convincing, fraudsters will invite you to visit “their” website — which will have pages of detailed information and perhaps a photo or biography of the broker. But all too often the site will be nothing more than a fraudulent copy of a legitimate firm’s website — with changes made only to the name and contact information. The con artists will adopt fake yet familiar-sounding names and operate out of virtual offices, using phony addresses, remote mail drops, and redirected phone and facsimile numbers to carry out their scams.
  
  
• Self-Provided References — Knowing that regulators encourage investors to investigate before they invest, fraudsters often pretend to do the same. They will falsely assure you that the investment is properly registered with the appropriate agency and purport to give you the agency’s telephone number so that you can verify that “fact.” Sometimes they will give you the name of a real agency — other times they will fabricate one. But even if the agency does exist, the contact information invariably will be false. Instead of speaking with a government official, you’ll reach the fraudsters or their colleagues — who will give the company, the promoter, or the transaction high marks.
  
  
• Claims of Government “Approval” — Another ruse fraudsters use to appear credible involves the misuse of federal agency seals, including the seals of the SEC and the Federal Trade Commission. They will copy the official seal from the regulator’s website and use it to create fake letterhead for a fictitious letter of approval. But you should know that the SEC and FTC — like other state and federal regulators in the U.S. and around the world — do not “approve” or “endorse” any particular stock transactions or “loss recovery” programs.
  
  
• Advance Payment Requests — Regardless of how the fraudsters pitch their offers to “help”, there’s always a catch. Before they will complete the deal, they first will ask for an upfront “security deposit” or “margin payment” — or claim that you must post an “insurance” or “performance bond.” The minute you pay the advance fee, the fraudsters nearly always disappear — leaving you with new losses. If you seem willing to make further payments, the con artists may instead keep asking for more — falsely claiming that the market price of the security has changed or that the payments will cover additional fees, taxes, bonds for the courier service, or other similar expenses. Only when you finally run out of patience or money to chase your losses do the fraudsters disappear for good.

How to Protect Yourself

Regulators often refer to worthless stock scams as “recovery room operations,” “advance fee schemes,” or “reload scams” because the perpetrators prey on individuals who lost money once and are willing to invest even more in the hope of recovering their losses. Here are several ways to arm yourself against these thieving opportunists:

• Look Past Fancy Websites and Letterheads – Anyone who knows how to “cut and paste” can create impressive, legitimate-looking websites and stationery at little to no cost. Don’t be taken in by a glossy brochure, a glitzy website, or the presence of a regulator’s official seal on a web page or document. The SEC does not authorize private companies to use our seal. If you see the SEC seal on a company’s website or materials, think twice — and then think twice again.
• Be Skeptical of Government “Approval” — Like most regulators around the world, the SEC does not evaluate the merits of any securities offering, nor do we determine whether a particular security is a “good” investment. Moreover, we never endorse specific firms, individuals, products, or services.
• Deal Only with Real Regulators — Don’t be fooled by those who tell you how and where to check out their credentials. Go straight to a real regulator for help. Here are the URLs you’ll need to find your regulator:

FINRA -- http://www.finra.org
State Regulators -- http://www.nasaa.org/ or http://www.nasaa.org/QuickLinks/ContactYourRegulator.cfm

Independently Determine Whether the Offering Is Registered -- In general, all securities offered in the U.S. must be registered with the SEC or qualify for an exemption. You can see whether a company has registered its securities with the SEC and download its disclosure documents using our EDGAR database.

Check Out the Broker and the Firm – Always verify whether the broker and the firm are properly licensed to do business in your state, province, or country. If the person claims to work at a U.S. brokerage firm, use FINRA’s BrokerCheck website or call FINRA’s Public Disclosure Program hotline at (800) 289-9999. If the person works elsewhere, contact the securities regulator for that country — and also for your home country, if more than one country is involved.

To learn more please go to:
source http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/worthless.htm