The FBI Criminal Investigative Division and Securities and Exchange Commission warn investors of fraudsters impersonating registered investment professionals such as investment advisers and registered brokers.
The end goal of these broker imposter schemes is to lure their targets into investment scams using spoofed sites, fake social media profiles, cold calling, and doctored documents.
This warning was issued in collaboration with SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA), an SEC department designed to help individual investors protect themselves from securities fraud or abuse.
“Fraudsters may falsely claim to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) or a state securities regulator in order to lure investors into scams, or even impersonate real investment professionals who actually are registered with these organizations,” the FBI and SEC warned earlier this week.
“Fraudsters may misappropriate the name, address, registration number, logo, photo, or website likeness of a currently or previously registered firm or investment professional.”
FBI and SEC’s warning follows a similar fraud alert issued by FINRA this week regarding broker imposter scams using phishing sites impersonating brokers and doctored SEC or FINRA registration documents.
Investors are advised first to check if those reaching out with investment opportunities are…
