| What is it? |
| Also known as "spoofing" or "phishing,"
email fraud has become an important threat. Phony emails disguised as legitimate, or pop-up Web pages ask for personal and/or account
information. If you respond to these scams, your personal accounts are at risk. You are even susceptible to identity theft. |
| Today, online criminals put phishing to directly profitable uses. Popular targets are users of online banking services,
and auction sites. Phishers usually work by sending out e-mail spam to large numbers of potential victims. These direct the recipient to a
Web page which appears to belong to their online bank, for instance, but in fact captures their account information for the phisher's use.
Typically, a phishing email will appear to come from a trustworthy company with images, logos, and links that appear to be legitimate. Often the
subject line and the message are intended to alarm the recipient
into taking action. A common approach is to tell the recipient that their account has been de-activated due to a problem and inform them that
they must take action to re-activate their account. The user is provided with a convenient link in the same email that takes the email
recipient to a fake webpage appearing to be that of a trustworthy company. Once at that page, the user enters his/her personal information
which is then captured by the fraudster. Oftentimes the fraudulent emails will also disguise or forge the sender's email address so they appear to be legitimate |
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| How to avoid the risk? |
| Do NOT respond to ANY emails requesting
account information or passwords. Often, these emails are hard to distinguish from legitimate emails. In order to protect yourself, you
should call the company and ask them about the email.
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| Also, make sure that your computer is updated regularly.
Check the virus definitions and make sure that you have installed windows updates.
Also, using anti-spam software and a spam filter for your email is recommended. Check to make sure that you are using the most up to date version of your Web browser.
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| Lombard Securities' Email Policy |
| Lombard Securities NEVER asks its clients to
confirm their passwords or to disclose them to ANYONE in ANYWAY. Moreover, there is no reason for your broker to know your Lombard Securities
password. All Lombard Securites agents have their own access to your account(s) through another service, which requires a separate password.
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| If you receive a communication, electronic or
otherwise, purporting to be from Lombard Securities, or someone representing themselves as an agent of Lombard Securities, be immediately
suspicious and report the incident promplty to our Customer Service Department by telephoning that department at 800.755.2144. All sensitive
information exchanges to and from Lombard Securities should take place telephonically, by U.S. Mail, or by identifiable express mail services.
If you have any questions, please call us.
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| But how did they get my email address? |
| Many scammers randomly generate email addresses, purchase
mailing lists, or obtain them from online auctions, directories, and web pages.
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| Where do I report suspected cases of email fraud? |
| You should first go to the website for the company that sent you
the suspicious email and look for directions. Do not follow any links from the email. Instead, open a new browser, and connect to the company's website.
If you cannot find any information at the company's website, the
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offers a complaint form. If you have supplied
personal information you should act immediately. You should contact the Online Fraud Prevention Hotline (866.867.5568), and the credit
bureaus and instruct them to flag your accounts with "fraud alert," the Equifax Fraud Hotline (800.525.6285), the Experian Fraud Hotline (888.397.3742), and the
TransUnion Fraud Hotline (800.680.7289). Our customer service department can also answer questions about Lombard Sercurities' Email Policies. Call us
at 800.755.2144.
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