Last week, we received inquiries about our “55 Stocks Elite Community” and the “Event Driven Magic Seven.”
Of course, we don’t have an elite community or magic anything. It was a scam, and we were being impersonated online. Someone posted market commentaries on WhatsApp, including my photo and others from Acropolis.
These scams use well-known investors like Ray Dalio, Bill Ackman, and Cliff Asness. While I would typically be proud to be in their company, I don’t like that scammers even know about me or Acropolis.
We posted a note on our website (which you can find by clicking here) alerting people about the fraud and saying that we don’t conduct regulated activities over social media (except LinkedIn, where we follow standard compliance procedures).
Five years ago, we read about fraud in industry publications, but now, we see actual fraud attempts fairly regularly.
While we make substantial efforts to keep clients safe, clients must also take action to protect themselves. To help facilitate that, I will start writing regularly about fraud protection in this email, and our quarterly newsletter will also feature anti-fraud articles.
It’s too bad that it’s come to this, but it’s part of our world today.
Last week, Chris forwarded me an article on how scammers can get access to your online banking credentials that I will summarize for today.
STEP 1:
Scammers pretend to be financial institutions by sending emails or texts from websites that may look like your financial institution. They even make phone calls and ‘spoof’ phone numbers that appear to be from your financial institution.
Don’t reply to emails or texts or follow links you weren’t expecting. You can’t even trust your Caller ID. Don’t give anyone access to your phone or email. It’s best to call the institution back using a phone number you find on their website.
Step 2:
If a scammer gets ahold of you on the phone and you provide your account number, username, or other personally identifiable information, they can use that information to access your account.
If they have your username, they can hit the reset password button online, which triggers an email or text to you. If they have you on the phone, they ask you for the verification code and use that to access your account and lock you out of it.
Never read back the verification codes to anyone over the phone!
If you provide scammers with your credentials, you might be liable and may never get your funds back.
Also, if scammers get access to your email, they may be able to take all of these steps without your knowledge because they hide the emails in hidden folders, all while you continue to use the email account.
It’s best to change your email password regularly. It’s a pain in the neck, but it’s important.
As I mentioned, I’ll be sharing more as time goes on. Stay safe!
