Responding to Digital Identity Theft: A Guide for Financial Advisors

by John O’Connell, 4/1/25 Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit Flipboard Membership required Membership is now required to use this feature. To learn more: View Membership Benefits Already a member? Log in Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.Financial advisor impersonations on WhatsApp are becoming more prominent. Cybercriminals use the picture, name, and even some biographical details from the financial advisor’s website. They combine this information with data from the advisor’s Broker Check or LinkedIn profiles, such as employment history. The cybercriminal uses this information to create a fake WhatsApp account that impersonates the financial advisor.The cybercriminal uses the fake account to promote an investment to get unsuspecting investors to buy shares. Then the cybercriminal sells a large position of that investment at the pumped-up price. This is known as a pump-and-dump scheme, an...