Bounty-hunting corporate tipsters are filing reports of potential wrongdoing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at a rate of about seven per day, according to the first progress report from the agency’s new whistle-blower program.

The public snapshot released last week counted 334 tips in the first 50 days after the program — revamped under the Dodd- Frank Act — became fully operational on Aug. 12.

The program gives whistle-blowers a share of proceeds if their tips lead to more than $1 million in penalties. So far, the top three categories of tips are those alleging market manipulation, problems with public disclosure or fraud in offerings.

“This is a red-hot area of awareness for us right now,” said Gregory Keating, co-chair of the whistle-blowing practice group at Littler Mendelson PC in Boston, who expects the next reports will show an “exponentially” higher tip rate. “These claims can impact stock price. They can be incredibly expensive. It’s something we need unequivocally to get ahead of.”

Congress expanded the SEC’s whistle-blower provisions after the agency failed to act on tips it received about Bernard Madoff’s multibillion-dollar fraud. Companies that opposed the program said that offering bounties could undermine internal programs set up to collect and address employee concerns — expensive systems the companies are legally required to operate.

Under the SEC program, a whistle-blower can be awarded between 10 and 30 percent of any money the SEC collects, depending on how central the tip was to proving the case.

Full story: “Whistle-blowers, over 100 per month, seek rich SEC bounties”