Intelligent Highway Solutions, Inc. (fka IHSI)

[FullDeck]

CAUTION: "After Reddit Users Drove Up GameStop...

...the SEC Cracks Down on Social Media Touting"

The SEC suspended trading of an inactive company (like IHSI- note added) after a potentially coordinated attempt on social media to drive up its shares.

As of late last week the SEC is coming after inactive over-hyped OTC stocks like IHSI.

This SEC action was taken late last week, just before the air started to come out of MANY OTC stocks, IHSI included.

Buyer Beware.

https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1qj66bss0x836/After-Reddit-Users-Drove-Up-GameStop-the-SEC-Cracks-Down-on-Social-Media-Touting

Within weeks of the GameStop saga, the Securities and Exchange Commission has suspended trading in SpectraScience on concern social media accounts were artificially influencing the stock price of the inactive company.

SpectraScience shares and trading volume have risen since January 21 despite no publicly available news from the company, according to an SEC statement Thursday. The Minnesota-based company hasn’t filed any periodic reports since 2017, and its most recent website and phone number are “non-functional,” the U.S. securities regulator said.

The SEC is cracking down on trading influenced by social media accounts after retail investors on Reddit drove up GameStop’s stock in a bid to take down hedge fund firm Melvin Capital. The hedge fund had wagered through a short-selling position that the video game retailer’s share price would fall.

“This is a reminder that investors should exercise tremendous caution when investing based on social media or a sudden surge of enthusiasm for a particular security, especially where that interest does not appear tied to any news about the company or industry,” Melissa Hodgman, acting director of the SEC’s division of enforcement, said in the statement on SpectraScience.

At the end of January, the regulator issued an alert cautioning investors about “hot” stocks and the risk of unanticipated losses from short-term trading in “heavily-promoted” companies. The SEC also warned that financial “manias” can end in widespread “panic” selling, and that investors engaged in short selling risk unlimited losses.

SpectraScience, which the SEC described as delinquent in its reporting, trades over the counter under the ticker SCIE. The SEC’s order to suspend trading of the company did not the name the social media accounts that “may be engaged in a coordinated attempt to artificially influence SCIE’s share price.”

Efforts to reach the company by phone for comment were unsuccessful, with a recorded message indicating the phone number was disconnected or no longer in service.

In its 2016 annual report filed with the SEC, SpectraScience said it focused on developing its WavSTAT Optical Biopsy System, which it said “optically illuminates tissue in real-time to distinguish between normal and pre-cancerous or cancerous tissue.” The company has not filed annual reports for any subsequent years.

“The SEC can suspend trading in a stock for 10 days and generally prohibit a broker-dealer from soliciting investors to buy or sell the stock again until certain reporting requirements are met,” according its statement Thursday.

This is probably just the beginning. Here's a good article on the subject:

"Is the SEC Sending a Big Hint With Its Latest Penny Stock Suspension?"
https://www.securitieslawyer101.com/2021/is-the-sec-sending-a-big-hint-with-its-latest-penny-stock-suspension/

At the open of the trading session on February 11th, The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) suspended trading in SpectraScience Inc (SCIE).

On the surface, the suspension seems pretty typical — a penny stock that was suspended because of “questions regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information about the Company in the market place and potentially manipulative trading activity.”

It’s the exact verbiage that appears in nearly every suspension order against penny stocks (after all, the penny stock market is full of stocks with questionable business operations, spotty public disclosures, and manipulative trading activity). But if we dig a little deeper, this suspension might not be so typical after all. In fact, it could be a precursor for a significant change in focus for the SEC to try to clean up a marketplace that has gone off the rails lately with an unprecedented amount of manipulative trading activity through the influence of Social Media.

The IHUB board- "DD Support Board and Research Team":
https://investorshub.advfn.com/DD-Support-Board-and-Research-Team-19670/

is a great resource for info on this topic.

Be careful, all.