As if the SEC doesn’t have enough to deal with, it must also now contend with con artists using the names of actual SEC employees to attempt to gain confidential information and mislead potential victims. The SEC announced today that in some instances,
investors in the U.S. and abroad have been tricked into revealing private information, giving fraudsters access to their brokerage accounts, and even sending money and other assets to imposters. In other instances, unknown individuals have attempted to impersonate SEC examiners to gather confidential information from broker-dealers and investment advisers. Imposters have contacted firms by telephone, identified themselves as members of the SEC staff, and demanded immediate access to the firm’s records, sometimes claiming to be conducting an “emergency” examination.
