Occasionally we are reminded that securities law scams are not only illegal, but also often prey on the worst instincts of their victims.

Yesterday, the SEC announced a formal warning to the investing public not to be tricked into offerings by companies claiming vaccines, cures or other strategies for the containment of coronavirus. 

One might not think, of all the potentially horrible fallouts of an aggressive world disease, that we would also find people attempting to illegally profit from the hysteria.  That the SEC, so quickly, should feel constrained to issue such a warning release is both startling and depressing.