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Investors
SIPC steps in when a brokerage firm fails financially, and assets are missing from customer accounts.
SIPC protects customer assets when a SIPC-member brokerage firm fails financially.
Understand how SIPC protection works if you have multiple accounts.SIPC has recovered billions of dollars for investors. Our job is to recover missing cash or securities if your brokerage firm has gone out of business. SIPC does not protect digital asset securities that are investment contracts that are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, even if held by a SIPC member brokerage firm.
SIPC has issued Investor Bulletins explaining SIPC’s protection and claims process. Click here for Part I ("SIPC Basics"). Click here for Part II ("Filing a SIPC Claim").
WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 29, 2004 - The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which maintains a special reserve fund mandated by Congress to protect the customers of insolvent brokerage firms, said today that it has asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to investigate a "look-alike" Web site for a fictitious organization, the International Brokerage Association, that closely mimics the official SIPC Web site's appearance, content and functions.
SIPC officials said that the phony Web site apparently was being used to encourage investors to part with their money and securities under the guise of doing business with a non-existent Hong Kong brokerage firm.
SIPC President Stephen Harbeck said: "The Web site that we are concerned about is a complete fabrication and should not be relied upon by any investor in the U.S. or overseas as an information resource. These people have literally hijacked the look, feel and content of the SIPC Web site with the apparent motive of confusing investors into doing business with a phony brokerage firm. We have asked the FBI and SEC to investigate this matter and intend to use every available means to shut down this Web site and to make sure that the parties involved are held responsible for this scheme."