Fraudsters are increasing in their scale and sophistication of attacks all the time and you really cannot be too careful, even experienced investors and large corporations can fall victim to fraudsters.
Fraud accounts for around 40% of all crime in England and Wales, with an estimated 3.2 million offences each year. The estimated cost of fraud to society is £6.8 billion in England and Wales (1).
There are various types of fraud which you could easily fall victim to, some of the key fraud types directed against financial accounts include: -
Account takeover – can involve fraudsters utilising Phishing techniques and /or making use of information available online to gather sufficient information to impersonate you and attempt to take over your accounts.
Investment scams - including boiler room and pension liberation schemes.
What you can do to protect yourself from fraud?
Strong passwords and multifactor authentication: Always use strong passwords and make use of multifactor authentication for your email and other online accounts. Weak/unprotected passwords are vulnerable to attacks by fraudsters.
Restrict Sharing Your Personal Information: Beware of who and where you share your personal information and take care on what you post in online social media. Once your personal information is ‘out there’, they can use that information in a myriad of ways from impersonating you to change your contact details, including online login details to your insurer or investment company to retrieve your funds and benefits. They can effectively take over your financial affairs.
Critically analyse email communications: Triple check the actual email address to ensure it’s legitimate. This is done by clicking “respond to” and then verifying the “TO” address (but not actually sending the email). Look out for small and large deviations from the normal company email address format. The part after the “@” sign must be exactly like the web address of the business who is reaching out to you.
Look out for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes or inconsistent fonts, this could be an indicator the communication is from a fraudster rather than a genuine company.
Ignore unsolicited offers: A common tactic used by criminals is to promote “investment” opportunities via social media accounts, promising large returns. Never respond to any requests to send money, or have money transferred through your account, by someone you don’t know and trust.
Carefully consider any investment opportunities: Don’t be rushed into making an investment. Be wary of any unrealistic investment growth claims. If it sounds or looks suspicious it probably is.
Use guidance from Action Fraud: Action Fraud provides excellent guidance on how to help protect yourself from online and other fraud, see www.actionfraud.police.uk/individual-protection.
Use the FCA Register to check out any suspect firms or individuals: The Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) (register.fca.org.uk/s/) can be used to check if a financial services company is regulated. But take care that the firm is not being impersonated by fraudsters (known as brand cloning fraud) and check them out independently e.g. contact them from the number provided on the FCA register not any potential scam correspondence you have been sent.
Note, if you deal with a firm (or individual) that isn’t regulated, you may not be covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) if things go wrong and you lose your money.
The FCA’s ScamSmart webpage: provides tips on identifying and avoiding pensions and investment scams, and includes a warning list of firms and individuals operating without FCA authorisation, www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart.
Reporting
If you suspect you have been a victim of fraud or attempted fraud, you need to report it:
- To the Police, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or via their website www.actionfraud.police.uk
- To your bank/ financial services provider immediately; in some cases, banks may be able to recall payments, but time is critical.
- Tell us about it by calling your Portfolio Manager/ Financial Planner or our Client Contact team on 03301 656 600.
What atomos will do?
atomos is committed to the highest standards of business integrity, ethical values and governance.
- atomos will never pressure you into making a transaction on the spot.
- We will not contact you out of the blue using a generic email (in other words, one that is not particularly addressed to you) and then ask for personal information.
- atomos communications will be directed at you, greeting you by name and/or surname.
- atomos’ email addresses will end with “@atomos.co.uk”
If you are at all unsure about whether a communication is genuine, in the first instance, either contact your Portfolio Manager/Financial Planner or our Client Contact team on 03301 656 600.
(1) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-campaign-to-fight-fraud-launched