By guest blogger Brian Felshaw
In an era where financial fraud and scams are increasingly sophisticated, financial advisors play a crucial role in safeguarding their clients’ assets and personal information.
Technology plays a crucial role in financial management, as it does for many industries today. Tech tools allow you to see the trajectory of your assets over time in a simple way, and can allow for fast and clear communication of trades, transactions and asset information.
There’s no understating it — technology has revolutionized investing. Unfortunately, in the hands of bad actors, this same technology can also make theft and fraud easier for investors who don’t know about the proper precautions they need to use to protect their assets.
After nearly a decade of helping clients with their investments, here are three specific ways I work to protect my own clients from fraud:
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Requests for Funds
As a general rule, I make it a best practice of contacting clients by phone before major withdrawals. Multiple times in my career, client emails have been hacked and fraudsters have submitted requests to add new bank accounts for transfers, or to wire funds out to unfamiliar bank accounts. A simple phone call can prevent this from happening.
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Use of Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
MFA, in short, is verifying your identity in two or more ways through:
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Something you know (like a security question or a password),
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Something you have (like a text message authentication code,) or
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Something you are (biometric data, such as FaceID or a fingerprint.)
Most financial institutions (including ours) make use of MFA to reduce the chance of fraud. However, not all websites protect your data as well as we do, and turning on MFA is optional on many sites. In the wrong hands, even seemingly harmless information can be used to scam you into giving access to your finances. I encourage clients – wherever possible – to opt into MFA on all websites to reduce the chance of any of your data reaching the wrong people. The biometric option is often the easiest and coincidentally, also the most difficult for criminals to get past.
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Regular Financial Reviews
I often call myself the financial “quarterback” of my clients lives. (Fall is around the corner, a football metaphor is needed.)When we meet regularly, I get to know what’s going on in my clients’ lives, how the changes impact their investments, and their long-term plans.
Inconsistencies in communication, abrupt changes to their wishes, or sudden unexplained withdrawals can signal to me that something has changed, or the client is being influenced in a way that is not in their best interests. This can be due to a fraudster, a family member acting in bad faith, or even the client’s failing memory.
Picking up on these little things can help protect clients from bad situations, and there’s no better way to pick up on inconsistencies than knowing my clients well.
I believe that almost anyone can benefit from having a good financial professional in their corner, especially when it comes to protecting your assets.
Feel free to reach out to me for more – I welcome all financial questions, and am happy to meet for a brief, no-pressure “ask me anything” session, whether you are a client or not.
All of my best,
Brian Felshaw
Investment advisor Representative,
Enrolled Agent
Capstone Wealth Advisors
360-692-9000
Brian Felshaw is a seasoned Financial Advisor and Enrolled Agent with over a decade of expertise. He is based out of Silverdale, WA.
P.S. Want to know about common mortgage scams you might be susceptible to? My referral partner Dawn Hunter wrote a really informative blog article for Digital Helpmates on that. Click to read about mortgage scams.
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