U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission
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U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy

Welcome to the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, dedicated to serving the needs of individual investors.

We provide a variety of services to address the problems and questions you may face as an investor. We cannot tell you what investments to make, but we can tell you how to invest wisely and protect your hard earned investment dollars from securities fraud or abuse.

We act as your gateway to the SEC. If you have suffered wrongdoing at the hands of a broker or investment adviser, we want to hear from you. If you believe that improvements can be made in the way we regulate the securities industry, we want to hear from you. Let us know when we are doing a good job and when we need to do better.

We have a staff of about 35 investor assistance specialists nationwide who stand ready to help you.  Last year, we received more than 75,000 calls, e-mails, web-form submissions, and letters from investors who had complaints or questions.

Complaints are extremely important to us. You may think you're the only one experiencing a problem, but typically, you're not alone. Sometimes, it only takes one investor's complaint to trigger an investigation that exposes a bad broker, an illegal boiler-room operation, a ponzi scheme or an insider trading ring. In recent years, investor complaints led, at least in part, to approximately twenty percent of all cases investigated by the SEC.

When we receive a complaint, our specialists contact the firm, company or individual who is the subject of the complaint to find out exactly what happened. Sometimes, this results in a satisfactory resolution of the complaint. Other times, it's unclear who is right and who is wrong. In that case, we let investors know their legal options and how they can pursue a resolution on their own. More information and an online complaint form are available on how we handle your complaints.

Our specialists also research and provide information. We handle a broad array of questions, including whether a broker or investment professional is properly licensed to do business with you, whether a company is registered with the SEC, the worth of old stock certificates, and what to expect from bankruptcies and reorganizations.

We recognize that the best defense against fraud and abusive securities practices is an educated investor. We offer a series of publications with useful tips in plain English.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by "your" office at the SEC. If you have any questions, comments or problems, don't hesitate to contact us through our online complaint forms or question form.

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


Modified: 12/02/2009