With an estimated 80% of UK businesses subject to cyber attacks according to a report by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, fraud is something we cannot afford to ignore. Many clients will have experienced some of our processes designed to reduce the risks put to us by the fraudsters and protect your assets.
Part of our fraud prevention requires a confirmation that a request we receive from a client is a bonafide instruction. We therefore have protocols in place that require us to call back a client on the number that is recorded in our systems to reconfirm the instruction to try and avoid any of the following instances:
- Scam or fictitious instructions, whereby we are requested by email to liquidate all or part of a portfolio and transfer the cash out of the firm
- Unusual or random requests. If our investment managers consider an instruction is out of character we may require secondary confirmation
We have halted a number of fraud attempts with this call-back protocol but we realise this can often be an inconvenience, however we believe this is a reasonable response considering the huge increase in fraud.
For more information about how to keep you and your family safe online, please download our guide at:
www.jmfinn.com/cyber-crime-awareness.
