Rogue online operators have found their next big lucrative scheme, and it involves impersonating prominent hedge funds and asset management firms.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a leading regulator of financial markets and financial services companies in the UK, has issued a staggering number of warnings as of late. The alerts cover a plethora of scams that involve fraudsters claiming to represent authentic, authorized investment firms, such as Winton Capital, Algebris Limited and more.
The criminals behind this are reaching out to investors to promote fake investment opportunities, assets, or shares. In each case, the property or opportunity is either non-tradeable, valueless, unreasonably expensive, or doesn't exist.
Crooks are employing a number of techniques to lure in victims, including but not limited to the following methods:
To help prevent your team from falling victim to this scam, we've outlined security tips below:
This hoax comes on the heels of the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issuing its 2020 Cybersecurity and Resiliency Observations.
The report highlighted seven critical areas concerning cybersecurity that registered investment advisors (RIAs) should be focusing on, one of which is security awareness training. Against this backdrop, we urge companies to take action and bolster their cybersecurity preparedness by introducing security awareness training company-wide.
Align's Cybersecurity Education empowers clients with security best practices and emerging threat intel to create a first line of defense against cybercrime. For information regarding these services and our Cybersecurity Advisory Practice, please contact us at cyber@align.com or visit https://www.align.com/align-cybersecurity.
If so, we recommend you contact the Align Cybersecurity team at +1 855-IT-ALIGN (1-855-482-5446) or via email at help@align.com.