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Helping You Avoid Fraudsters

The rise of the digital age has opened up a world of possibilities where finances and investments are concerned. However, the flip side is a rising threat from fraudsters. Whether you’re tech-savvy and know exactly what to look out for, or you’re nervous about conducting transactions online, it makes no difference; anyone can fall prey to a scam or fraud.

While there are certainly ways to protect yourself from fraudsters – including understanding how scams work and what you need to do to protect your personal information – it’s also crucial to know what to do should the worst happen and you feel you’ve been scammed.

A Rise In Fraudster Activity

From texts that seem to come from your bank to emails you’d swear were sent by money transfer services to fully blown fake websites, scammers aren’t shy about their tactics when it comes to defrauding people of their hard-earned cash.

Scammers and fraudsters can employ the latest technology to aid their plans. Yet they’re also adept at exploiting situations and manipulating emotions to build trust with you, create a sense of panic or urgency that compels you to take action, and then convince you the best course is to divulge your details. This may be over a text or email. However, it can also be through a phone call, on which you are fully convinced you’re speaking to your bank or another valid institution with a reasonable reason to ask for those details.

And it’s not just bank accounts that need protecting from potential fraudsters. Scammers will also target investment accounts, pensions, and even insurance. Vigilance is essential, particularly now, as we’re seeing a rise in the number of fraudulent activities taking place. This often takes the form of fraudulent payment requests, which occur when a client’s email has been compromised. With scammers controlling customer email accounts, they may request large pay-outs from their investments and direct those funds to fraudulent bank accounts.

Should their request be successful, that money is rapidly transferred overseas, making it tough to recover once the fraud is discovered. Unfortunately, this can happen to anyone, even financial advisers!

How Do We Protect Clients’ Investments?

We contact clients directly through a known or registered phone number. Where possible, a face-to-face meeting is arranged to ensure the instructions are legitimate. We can also consider extra verification options, such as asking questions only a genuine client would know.

This communication is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice, investment recommendations or investment research. You should seek advice from a professional adviser before embarking on any financial planning activity. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the information contained in this communication is correct, we are not responsible for any errors or omissions.

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Dealing with scams

Blacktower Financial Management

You may have seen emails alerting you to a new fraud specific to the financial services advice industry. We are not aware of any of our clients having been targeted in the way described below, but it is our responsibility at Blacktower to do everything we can to educate our clients about these scams to avoid any harm coming to them.

The fraudsters claim to be from the Financial Conduct Authority or local law enforcement and are targeting clients of investment management firms. They are advising clients that the investment manager, adviser or firm is under investigation. The fraudster specifically asks the client not to speak to their investment manager, adviser or firm, or even close connections, claiming this would be considered tipping off. The client is then advised to encash their portfolio and move the cash to the client’s bank account. Once this is done, the fraudster then ‘recommends’ an investment which is actually a scam.

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Inheritance is becoming an increasingly important factor for overall wealth

CoinsA big part of your financial planning is deciding what is going to happen to all your money and possessions once you pass away. For many, effective estate planning is a crucial process that should not be taken lightly – and for a good reason.

It appears that inheritances are a key source of wealth for younger generations, although the amount of wealth people will receive varies greatly, many will rely on the death of parents and family in order to help them afford major items such as going to University, buying a property or starting a business.

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