Cloned Brokers: How Do You Identify And Avoid Them?

How Is the Scam Works？

In addition to social media, cloned broker fraudsters are enticing customers to visit bogus websites using telemarketing calls, text messages, emails, and pop-up advertising.

When a fraudster constructs a website that appears virtually similar to the official website of a genuine financial firm—in this example, a licensed broker-dealer or investment advisor—this is known as cloning. The fraudulent website provides investors with a one-of-a-kind opportunity to join in early on low-risk or no-risk investments with guaranteed yearly rates of return. Scammers often use high-pressure techniques to convince victims not to lose time transferring money.

The cloned broker fraudsters may provide false account statements to their victims, highlighting how beneficial their investments have been thus far. They may even allow the victim to withdraw some of their funds in order to make the cloned broker seem authentic. However, once the scammers have finished their swindling or feel the police are on to them, they vanish with the victims' money. The victims quickly realize that they were duped, that they never owned any securities investments, and that their money is gone.

Unsolicited investment proposals should be avoided, whether they are made online, via pop-up advertising or social media, or by unsolicited calls, text messages, or emails.

Avoiding Cloned Broker Scams:

• Never disclose your personal or financial information over the phone, by email, text, or social media with an unknown individual, especially if the person claims to work for a well-known company.

• Hang up if an unwanted call is prerecorded or automated and urges you to dial a number to speak with a live person.

• Hang up if the caller asks, “Can you hear me？” or a similar generic query. This is how fraudsters may confirm that your phone number is current. When a robocall system sees your phone number as active, it may add it to a list for future calls.

• Whether you suspect you have been approached by a licensed broker-dealer or investment firm, you should investigate further by visiting the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's (FINRA) BrokerCheck website at brokercheck.finra.org to see if they are registered with FINRA. If they are registered, contact the compliance officer at the number indicated for the business in BrokerCheck to ensure that you were contacted by the actual company and not an impostor.

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