South Florida Arbitration & Litigation Lawyer Blog
INVESTOR ALERT:
Email Hack Attack? Be Sure to Notify Brokerage Firms and Other Financial Institutions Immediately if you Feel that your Security has been Compromised.
Every day each of my websites and email address receive numerous unwanted spam and and unsolicited contacts from what are clearly fraudsters. Obviously, the easiest way to deal with these types of contacts is to just delete them without opending the email itself or the attachment. However, this is easier said then done, especially wen dealing with some of the most proficient fraudsters.
In the most serious cases, a compromised email account can lead not only to identity theft, but also to theft of your money. That’s why one of the most important first steps you should take if your email account has been hacked is to notify your brokerage firm and other financial institutions.
Financial regulators, including FINRA, have received an increasing number of reports involving investor funds being stolen by fraudsters who first gain access to the investor’s email account, and then email instructions to the firm to transfer money out of the brokerage account.
How many of you have seen unsolicited emails from banks or credit card companies, asking you to update your profile or indicating that the security of your account has been breached and that you need to provide your access information to find out what happened? These types of things just don’t happen. Don’t be fooled. Call the institution at a secure number or somehow verify the information in a secured manner. If you follow the instructions or the links on the site notifying you of the problem that is probably just starting the issue itself.
By the time that you realize what has happened it is usually too late to do anything about it.
For more information on this issue, please follow the highlighted link “Learn about” the potential financial consequences of a compromised email account and get tips for safeguarding your assets.