Online brokerage account scams worry SEC | CNET News.com
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High-tech crooks are hijacking online brokerage accounts by using spyware and operating from remote locations, sometimes in Eastern Europe, U.S. market regulators said on Friday.

The computer “incursions” are a growing problem, said Walter Ricciardi, deputy enforcement director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

“It’s something we’re very concerned about,” he said in remarks at a legal conference in Washington.

About 25 percent of U.S. retail stock trades are made by online investors through roughly 10 million online accounts, according to brokerages regulator NASD.