Investors have enjoyed a remarkable bull market over the past three years, with the S&P 500 returning 87%. That’s a tough benchmark for anyone to beat. Fraudsters, though, have found a way. Now, the Securities and Exchange Commission is creating a new working group aimed at engineering a market correction in retail focused investment scams.

Americans reported losing more than $8.6 billion to online investment fraud last year, more than two and a half times the $3.3 billion reported in 2022, according to the FBI. Cryptocurrency scams accounted for $7.2 billion of those losses.

The SEC is responsible for policing investment fraud, so a new SEC working group devoted to the problem is reassuring, though it also raises an obvious question about what the agency wasn’t already doing, or was supposed to be doing. The agency announced the group on July 7 in a five-paragraph release that said it would use “data and technology” to find possible wrongdoing and build cases, but offered few details about what would actually change. With reported fraud losses soaring, it’s hard to argue with the idea. It’s also hard not to wonder why a new group is needed now.

The Retail Fraud Working Group will focus on investment........

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