Investors in gold stocks are facing expensive scams despite warnings from major regulators that criminals are aiming to profit from the upsurge in prices of the metal.

Some of the biggest scams came to light recently in Canada and the United States and involved false reports of inflated gold deposits at mines awaiting investors and further development in Latin America and the United States.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission took legal action against Florida firm Quri Resources, Inc. after the company issued false claims that a mining project in Ecuador contained gold worth more than $1 billion.

Ponzi schemes in Canada and the United States bilked 3,000 investors out of as total of $300 million. SEC charged six individuals for operating the fraud.

The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued a new Investor Alert, called "'Gold' Stocks -- Some Investments Mine Your Pocketbook," to warn investors off scams that promote gold stocks. Instead FINRA issued information on how to identify legitimate gold investments.

With gold prices at record levels, blogs, Web sites, YouTube videos and Tweets promoting gold investment have proliferated. While legitimate gold investments are discussed online, FINRA warned investors may fall prey to scams.

The scams often center on inflated claims about the stocks of gold mining companies that are difficult to assess, much less verify.

Gold investments are also touted in free lunch seminars and pushed by boiler room operations.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission took three actions against precious metals firms and charged a telemarketing firm that purportedly purchased more than $23 million of precious metals for customers.

"Con artists are using the run-up in the price of gold as a hook to part investors from their money. Investors should think twice before investing in any gold investment promising exponential returns, or any company that claims it is a buyout target for other mining companies," FINRA Vice President for Investor Education Gerri Walsh said.

The SEC case against Quri began in September 2010 when the commission filed a complaint against the purported mining company with headquarters in Miami and operating in Ecuador. Company Chief Executive Officer Jaime Santiago Gomez was described as a resident of Miami and Quito.

SEC said that, from February to July 2009, Quri claimed in news releases it was ready to begin drilling at a $1 billion gold mine in Ecuador, had acquired another two gold mines in the country and signed letters of intent to acquire two gold mines in Arizona.

The company's Web site and other public statements falsely described Quri as having ongoing operations, employees worldwide and an impressive management team.

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