In response the increasing number of securities fraud cases on the Internet the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced the appointment of a chief to its new electronic enforcement unit.
The new unit will be managed by Tim Phillips who was previously ASIC's NSW Director of Enforcement. The unit will be responsible for monitoring unlawful behavior in the Australian e-commerce market.
According to the ASIC's Acting Deputy Chairperson, Jillian Segal, the creation of the new unit is a reflection of the growing concern over the rising incidents of securities fraud on the Internet.
"The new unit will be staffed by legal, investigation and technical experts who have extensive backgrounds in dealing with electronic commerce and the regulatory issues which are associated with it."
Segal noted that in recent months the Commission had mounted a number of investigations into unlawful behavior on Web sites and in chat rooms. Many of the investigations were concerned with Internet users attempting to manipulate the market or raise share prices.
"A number of investigations are already in progress and we recently took action in the Federal court to restrain the operations of one site operator whom we felt had overstepped the mark."
