South Florida Arbitration & Litigation Lawyer Blog
December, 2011:
Technology at its finest? Investors beware!
Now investors have something else to worry about. During one of his deposition sessions last week, Ponzi fraudsters Scott Rothstein testified how he created a fake TD Bank website on his law firm computer after investors he was swindling pressed him for information about the status of their money.
Apparently, the fake site could only be seen on his personal law firm computer sitting on a credenza. However, the site was as close to an exact duplicate of the TD Bank website as Rothstein’s IT people could create. According to Rothstein, this was necessary because certain of the people being scammed might very well bank at TD Bank and be familiar with its site. However, as will all frauds, something usu sally goes wrong. In this case, one of the glitches was that if a function was clicked on, it would take a viewer to the real TD Bank website.
This type of situation ties directly into the unsolicited communications that investors receive supposedly from their bank or brokerage firm, indicating things like “We are contacting you because we have noticed suspicious activity in your account.” Then you are asked for your user name and password. Don’t give it. Don’t even open the email. If you do open the email, how do you know that you are even looking at a legitimate site? You don’t.