The Globe & Mail reported a story yesterday that the OSC is considering setting up a scam squad to battle pump n’ dump boiler rooms and e-mail spammers. We at AGORACOM would applaud any such initiative by the OSC. E-mail spam is at all-time highs now, making up close to 20% of all spam we receive on a daily basis.
An annoyance to most people, stock spam actually hurts the small-cap industry because it paints the entire industry as one of pump n’ dumpers that need to spam in order to promote their stocks. We all know differently and that this is the raison d’etre of AGORACOM – but penalizing companies and unscrupulous promoters is good for everyone.
Will the OSC go through with it?Â
In an interview following his speech, Mr. Wilson said the proposal for the scam unit came from the commission’s enforcement division and hasn’t been approved yet, but will be considered in coming weeks as the OSC sets its budget for the coming year. He said he doesn’t know how much such a unit would cost, but said it would be assessed on a cost-benefit basis.
I sure hope they take into account the intangible side of this equation.
Best,
George