Phishing Scams on the Rise: FINRA
There are some key ways to spot these scams to protect both clients' identities and their assets, the regulatory group points out.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is warning about an increase in phishing scams, which often start with an email, text or encrypted message that falsely claims to be from a financial institution, government or regulatory agency.
“Virtually any news item, positive or negative, can become a ‘hook’ for a new scam — whether a natural disaster or the launch of a new product or company,” FINRA warns in a new alert.
Such scams, the regulator says, can also come in the form of “authentic email, text or encrypted message” from a well-known company or financial institution or a government agency.
The Internal Revenue Service “regularly warns of phishing schemes that use references to tax refunds, filing issues or investigations to lure recipients into opening a bogus email or clicking on an embedded link,” FINRA states.
FINRA points to a number of ways to spot these scams to protect both clients’ identity and assets. To appear genuine, these pitches typically use:
- the names of real people or organizations;
- legitimate-looking addresses, such as support@[name of your financial institution].com;
- authentic-looking logos and graphics;
- links to pages of a seemingly credible website; and
- official-looking fine print and references to laws.
“Most phishing campaigns attempt to lure you into providing sensitive personal information by requesting that you reply to the sender or click on a link that mimics a legitimate website and asks you to provide the information,” FINRA states.
Phishing scams “might also encourage you to click on a link or download software that will then secretly install malicious software — or Malware — on your computer or other device,” FINRA states.
Phishing messages “often apply ‘urgency’ to incite you to act, such as claiming that your account has been or will be shut down unless you click the link, or that you need to verify your identity (and provide sensitive information) due to fraudulent or illegal activity using your information,” FINRA’s alert warns.
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