WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to expose the growing number of unregistered entities engaged in solicitations of securities transactions by posting complaints about such firms on the agency's Web site.

Through its Public Alert: Unregistered Soliciting Entities or PAUSE program, the commission said it will publish on its Web site certain factual information about unregistered soliciting entities that have been the subject of complaints forwarded by investors and others around the globe, including foreign securities regulators.

For each of these entities, the commission's staff will have determined either (1) that there is no U.S. registered securities firm with that name, or (2) that there is a U.S. registered securities firm with the same or similar name, but that solicitations appear to have been made by people not affiliated with the U.S. registered securities firm. A second PAUSE list will name fictitious government agencies and international organizations referred to by entities that are subjects of complaints.