The National Association of Securities Delears has issued an investor alert warning investors to be wary of unsolicited faxes, spam and even text messages promising large market gains for investments that purport to capitalize on helping protect against global pandemics such as the avian flu.

The alert explains how investors can protect themselves from investment scams involving companies that claim to have products and services that fight the bird flu.

“This is an age-old pump-and-dump scheme with a brand new disguise,” said NASD vp of investor education John Gannon, in a release. “Unfortunately, fraudsters are quick to exploit every new crisis or catastrophe to peddle their get-rich-quick scams to unsuspecting investors.”

The alert warns investors not to rely solely on the information in unsolicited faxes, e-mails or text messages because they often come from corporate insiders who are paid to promote the stock. Investors are advised to further investigate when unsolicited messages include predictions of exponential growth and exaggerated claims of how a possible bird flu outbreak would contribute directly to the company’s bottom line.