Investor Alerts and Bulletins

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance (OIEA) and Division of Enforcement warn investors that scams involving stock recommendations may be conducted through social media. Investors should never make investment decisions based solely on information from social media platforms or apps.Watch Out For Stock Tip Red Flags.Did you click on an advertisement online or on social media, and get added to a group chat focusing on investments?

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this Investor Bulletin to answer questions that may arise when investing in a 529 plan account. Please also see our companion Bulletin, An Introduction to 529 Plans, for background information on the plans.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide investors with background information on 529 plans. Please also see our companion Bulletin for a few questions to consider before opening a 529 plan account.

An Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account provides a tax-advantaged method to save for qualified disability expenses. Contributions are not tax deductible for federal income tax purposes, but your investments can grow tax free and remain so when withdrawn and used for qualified disability expenses. Qualified disability expenses are expenses used to maintain or improve the account owner’s “health, independence, or quality of life.” Qualified disability expenses are broadly defined and may include expenses related to education, food, housing, transportation, employment training and…

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is warning investors that fraudsters may use investment-related group chats, including on commonly used social media platforms, to lure investors into scams. Investors should never rely solely on information from group chats in making investment decisions. Be wary of any group chat where you receive investment advice from someone you don’t know – this is often how investment scams begin.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate retail investors about the ways investors can hold crypto assets. This Investor Bulletin provides an overview of types of crypto asset custody and provides tips and questions to help you decide how to best hold crypto assets.What is crypto asset custody?

With 2025 ending, the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is highlighting 10 important Investor Alerts and Bulletins. These resources, all available on Investor.gov, can help you make informed investment decisions and avoid investment fraud.  If you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at help@sec.gov, our online question form, or on our toll-free investor assistance line at (800) 732-0330.  

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this Investor Bulletin to inform investors about health savings accounts (HSAs), which offer tax benefits when used to pay for qualified medical expenses. We encourage you to also consult Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidance on HSAs. What is a health savings account (HSA)?

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance (OIEA) warns that fraudsters may impersonate the SEC -- or SEC officials or employees -- on social media or in text messages to solicit you for scams. These scams include stock tips, advance fee fraud, and pretending to help you get your money back.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) are issuing this Investor Bulletin to urge investors to consider adding a “trusted contact person” to their brokerage account.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this Investor Bulletin to explain some of the most common mutual fund fees and expenses. As a general introduction to mutual fund fees and expenses, this Investor Bulletin does not identify all of the fees that you may pay to buy and own shares in a mutual fund. This Investor Bulletin will, however, familiarize you with some typical mutual fund fees and expenses and show you how those fees and expenses reduce the value of your fund’s investment return.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this updated bulletin to educate investors about how fees you pay for investment services and products can impact the value of your portfolio.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors about cash sweep programs, which broker-dealers and investment advisers (“investment firms”) offer to manage uninvested cash held in accounts by their investment firms. This Investor Bulletin describes these cash sweep programs and suggests questions you may want to ask yourself to help you decide how to best manage the uninvested cash in your investment account.

The Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help investors understand important similarities and differences between mutual funds and ETFs.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this Investor Bulletin to educate investors about target date funds. This Investor Bulletin discusses only target date funds that are mutual funds or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. What are target date funds?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Criminal Investigative Division and the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance (OIEA) warn investors of a significant uptick in tips, complaints, and referrals involving impersonations of investment professionals, including registered representatives and investment adviser representatives.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance is issuing this Investor Bulletin to help educate investors about money market funds. 

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance (OIEA), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) Office of Customer Education and Outreach, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the National Futures Association (NFA), and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) are issuing this Investor Bulletin to provide investors with information for World Investor Week 2024, a global campaign promoted by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) to raise awareness…

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance (OIEA) is providing tips for investors in the Thrift Savings Plan to help protect against fraud.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach (OCEO), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) are issuing this Investor Alert to warn investors about relationship investment scams.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) wants to educate investors about investing in SPACs. You may have heard the term SPAC recently referred to in the financial or other news.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) is issuing this Investor Bulletin to inform investors about how they may be able to recover money if they have been harmed by a violation of the federal securities laws.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this updated Investor Alert to warn investors about investment scams that purport to offer investors the opportunity to buy pre-IPO shares of companies, including social media and technology companies such as Facebook and Twitter. SEC staff is aware of a number of complaints and inquiries about these types of frauds, which may be promoted on social media and internet sites, by telephone, email, in person, or by other means.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Alert because fraudsters continue to exploit the popularity of crypto assets to lure retail investors into scams. Crypto assets may include assets commonly referred to as cryptocurrencies, crypto, coins, and tokens.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy is issuing this Investor Alert to warn investors about potential investment schemes in which fraudsters send fake Forms 4 to investors who paid for the purported purchase of shares.