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Monday, 12/08/2014 3:00:39 PM

Monday, December 08, 2014 3:00:39 PM

Post# of 148335
From the SEC website ... the reason SeaAm uses verifiable public information ...

http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/microcapstock.htm

What's So Important About Public Information?
Many of the microcap companies that don't file reports with the SEC are legitimate businesses with real products or services. Even in the absence of fraud, a lack of public information about a company can make investing in its stock more risky because the prices that are quoted for the stock are less likely to accurately reflect the risks and opportunities associated with the company and its business. In addition, stocks of such companies may trade only in small volumes.

Of potentially greater concern is that the lack of reliable, readily available information about some microcap companies can open the door to fraud. It's easier for fraudsters to manipulate a stock when there's little or no information available about the company.

Fraud involving microcap stocks often depends on spreading false information. Here's how some fraudsters carry out their scams:

Email Spam Fraudsters distribute junk e-mail or "spam" over the Internet to spread false information quickly and cheaply about a microcap company to thousands of potential investors. Spam allows the unscrupulous to target many more potential investors than cold calling or mass mailing.

Internet Fraud Fraudsters often use aliases on Internet bulletin boards and chat rooms to hide their identities and post messages urging investors to buy stock in microcap companies based on supposedly "inside" information about impending developments at the companies.

For more information about Internet fraud and on-line investing, read: Internet Fraud http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/cyberfraud.htm

and Tips for Online Investing: What You Need to Know About Trading in Fast-Moving Markets.
http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/onlinetips.htm

Paid Promoters Some microcap companies pay stock promoters to recommend or "tout" the microcap stock in supposedly independent and unbiased investment newsletters, research reports, or radio and television shows. Paid promoters are generally behind the unsolicited "junk" faxes, e-mail messages, or high-end glossy mailers you may receive, touting a microcap company. The federal securities laws require the publications to disclose who paid them for the promotion, the amount, and the type of payment. But many fraudsters fail to do so and mislead investors into believing they are receiving independent advice.

"Boiler Rooms" and Cold Calling Dishonest brokers set up "boiler rooms" where a small army of high-pressure salespeople use banks of telephones to make cold calls to as many potential investors as possible. These strangers hound investors to buy "house stocks" - stocks that the firm buys or sells as a market maker or has in its inventory. To learn more about cold calling, read Cold Calling - Know Your Rights.

Questionable Press Releases Fraudsters often issue press releases that contain exaggerations or lies about the microcap company's sales, acquisitions, revenue projections, or new products or services. These fraudulent press releases are then disseminated through legitimate financial news portals on the Internet.

Microcap fraud schemes can take a variety of forms. Here's a description of the most common schemes:

The Classic "Pump and Dump" Scheme It's common to see messages posted on the Internet that urge readers to buy a stock quickly or to sell before the price goes down, or a telemarketer will call using the same sort of pitch. Often the promoters will claim to have "inside" information about an impending development or to use an "infallible" combination of economic and stock market data to pick stocks. In reality, they may be company insiders or paid promoters who stand to gain by selling their shares after the stock price is pumped up by the buying interest they create. Once these fraudsters sell their shares and stop hyping the stock, the price typically falls, and investors lose money

The Latest Variation of the "Pump and Dump" Scheme
Some people are finding that they have received a "misdialed" call from a stranger, leaving a "hot" investment tip for a friend. The message is designed to sound as if the speaker didn't realize that he or she was leaving the hot tip on the wrong answering machine. If you get a message like this, it's not a wrong number at all. Instead, it is from someone who is being paid to leave these messages on a whole lot of answering machines. Check out "Wrong Numbers" and Stock Tips on Your Answering Machine for more information and to hear one of these scams.

The OffShore Scam Under a rule known as "Regulation S," companies do not have to register stock they sell outside the United States to foreign or "off-shore" investors. In the typical off-shore scam, an unscrupulous microcap company sells unregistered Reg S stock at a deep discount to fraudsters posing as foreign investors. These fraudsters then sell the stock to U.S. investors at inflated prices and share the resulting profits with company insiders. The flow of unregistered stock into the U.S. eventually causes the price to drop, leaving unsuspecting U.S. investors with losses.



Does anyone see a possible similarity between the SEC warnings and PVEC and PV? INTERESTING READ OF SEC WARNINGS IMO

DON'T BE CAUGHT HOLDING THE BAG!