The Feds Use Twitter, Facebook To Uncover Securities Fraud

The FBI sees social media as a potential breeding ground for securities fraud, and has agents scouring Twitter and Facebook for tips, according to two top agents overseeing a long-running investigation into insider trading in the $2 trillion hedge fund industry.

Reuters reports that April Brooks, a special agent in charge of the New York field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and David Chaves, a supervisory agent, said it is hard to predict the next wave of securities fraud, but they add that it will have a lot to do with advances in technology and social media.

'I will tell you technology will play a huge part, social media, Twitter. Any kind of technology that is new and doesn't exist today, if there is any way to exploit it, these individuals will exploit it', Brooks told Reuters TV in an interview for the Reuters Investment Outlook 2013 Summit.

Brooks and Chaves oversee what the FBI calls 'Operation Perfect Hedge', which has led to more than 60 convictions of hedge fund traders, analysts and industry consultants.

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FBI uses Twitter, social media to look for securities fraud

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