Cybersecruity

Unfortunately, fraud occurs more often than you might think. Anybody can be a target of fraud, and scammers have more ways than ever to try to take advantage of people. Here at West Invest we are here to help you build a financial plan, but we also want to help prevent you from falling victim to fraud.

First, watch out for these red flags:

• If somebody reaches out to you and says you need to act immediately to avoid serious consequences such as legal action or account closure.

• If somebody asks you to provide sensitive information such as your SSN, account numbers, login credentials, or PIN via email, text, or phone.

• If somebody requests unusual payment methods such as wire transfers or cashier’s checks.

• If somebody calls you claiming to be a representative from the IRS, Social Security, a celebrity, or even a family member in trouble.

• Or, if somebody offers you guaranteed returns or investments with no risk.

But there are simple steps you can take to exercise caution against fraud attempts:

• Use strong unique passwords on all of your accounts and utilize multi-factor authentication when possible.

• Never share your personal information over the phone, email, or text.

• Double check the contact information when somebody reaches out. For example, if you get a call or voicemail from somebody claiming to be from your bank, hang up, lookup the direct customer service phone number for that bank and call that number instead of the number that called you.

• Check your account activity regularly and contact your financial institutions if anything seems strange.

• And call us! If something seems suspicious, or too good to be true, please reach out so we can help you decipher what’s going on.