Recently, we were notified that scam callers have been impersonating Schwab customer service representatives by phone and requesting non-public information, including Social Security numbers.

How the impersonation scams work:

• Through a phone call, email, or other channels, the scammer makes contact and informs you that there's an urgent matter—a "refund" or "suspicious trades" that require you to grant remote access to their systems or accounts to set up "test transactions" or "catch a criminal".

• Sometimes, the impersonations involve multiple layers of deception—for example, someone who claims to represent "Amazon" says they must connect the client to the "Schwab Fraud Department".

How you can protect yourself, and what they should do if contacted:

• Do not click on links or attachments included in unknown or suspicious emails, and be on heightened alert when receiving any emails with Office, zip, or other common file types as attachments.

• Look for clues within the text of emails that may indicate bad actors sent them. These include errors in grammar, capitalization, or spelling.

• Hover over links to reveal the website's URL and see where the link leads. Do not click on the link if the destination is not what you would expect to see. (In Safari: View > Show Status Bar)

• Listen for any voices in the background that provide instructions to the person calling you—advice on what to say or details of any proposed transactions.

• You should avoid providing any personal identifying information in an email or over the phone, even if they say they're calling from Schwab. Note: You can verify that they're speaking with Schwab by hanging up and calling a Schwab phone number known to them.

• Please contact your custodian or us immediately to report all suspicious or fraudulent activity.

Additional cyber-security resources from Vector.

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