SEC Imposters On The Rise, Gov Warns

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued a warning this week for investors to be cautious of people representing themselves as agency officials.

According to the agency's press release:

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.