There have been several high-profile cases of internet fraud in the past two years

The SEC said Mr Bartiromo had guaranteed returns of up to 2,000% for investors.

However the New York Times reported that although some early investors did receive returns, the scheme began to fail in December last year and disgruntled clients began to complain on the site's message boards that their money had gone missing.

The SEC responded by filing its first complaint on the case on 13 December to stop the website from raising more money.

It claims as many as 10 more individuals could have been involved in the alleged scam.

Getting tough

The case is the latest example of the SEC's increasingly tough attitude towards fraud on the internet.

Just about anyone - even a 17-year-old high school student - can mastermind a securities fraud on the internet

SEC enforcement director Stephen Cutler

In September 2000 it brought charges against another teenager, Jonathan Lebed, who earned more than $250,000 by trading stocks on the internet.

The SEC claimed his profits were illegal, and the schoolboy agreed to stop trading despite neither admitting or denying the allegations.

And in August last year, 24-year-old Californian Marc Jakob was jailed for four years after he issued a fake press release regarding technology firm Emulex Corp in order to manipulate the stock price.

The SEC's enforcement director Stephen Cutler told French news agency AFP that this most recent case proved an apt warning about the ease of such scams on the internet.

"Just about anyone - even a 17 year-old high school student - can mastermind a securities fraud on the internet," he said.