He said there was nothing wrong in his work - in fact, he said, he provided a service by keeping these workers from unscrupulous brokers.

Meanwhile, some unscrupulous brokers prey on business owners, most of whom have never sold a company before.

That is because there have been cases reported of unscrupulous brokers allegedly misleading or defrauding investors with CD offers.

Ms. Packes, who has one of the city's largest listings of rentals, also cautioned about the city's many unscrupulous brokers.

"These cases show the real need for investor education which would help people like these protect themselves against unscrupulous brokers," he said.

The wrongdoing of unscrupulous brokers is difficult to uncover, according to a General Accounting Office report that said existing detection and reporting systems were inadequate.

In other words, to make a larger fee, the unscrupulous broker will qualify someone for a loan he or she really shouldn't get.

Or, as some regulators fear, unscrupulous brokers may suggest that the old common stock has value when it does not.

Long before the days of online trading, a few unscrupulous brokers defrauded investors or absconded with their money.

The proposal shows the securities commission's extreme frustration over fighting fraud in shares of some tiny unknown companies peddled to investors by unscrupulous brokers.