A very important, but often overlooked aspect of investing and wealth creation is protecting and preserving your investments. Generally, we focus on the risks associated with individual assets or asset classes, as we should, but having made those investments it is equally important to take all precautions to protect our investments. In recent times, technology has become a vital part of how we communicate, gather information and monitor our investments. Investors now more than ever rely more heavily on the use of e-mail, websites and mobile applications to assist with making investment decisions and monitoring of investments. These tools provide the investor with easy access to information and allow them to monitor their investments as needed without being limited by business opening hours or the availability of our advisors. However, they also present a new set of challenges to investors as unscrupulous individuals also have access to these tools and manipulate them to try and achieve their own objectives. Investors must be proactive and take measures to protect their personal and financial information to safeguard their investments from technological fraud.

Scare tactics and “too good to be true offers” are often used to try and get investors to act or react without proper consideration or scrutiny. These may come in the form of text messages or e-mail requesting persons to respond by providing personal/financial information or they may have embedded links for the recipient to click. Both methods are used in a bid to ascertain information which may be used to access your finances. These e-mail or text messages are disguised to appear to be coming from a legitimate source, often a source with which the recipient is familiar. Once these criminal elements have gained access to your personal information and finances, this can lead to financial loss from unauthorised transactions.

To protect yourself from tech fraud, investors should take all possible precautions. One of the first precautions must be to create strong passwords and where possible enable two-factor authentication. A strong password will make it difficult for imposters to access your accounts and two-factor authentication will add another level of security as a second verification is needed before allowing access. These should be used for emails, mobile applications, and login to banking or investment accounts.

Investors should also be cautious when sharing information online. When sharing personal information online, it is imperative that you know and trust the receiving party. Requests by unsolicited emails or messages asking for personal information is a red flag. The source may seem legitimate but can be unscrupulous. When in doubt contact your financial institution using an alternative method (eg by telephone) to determine the legitimacy of the email or message. Your financial institution will never send unsolicited emails or messages requesting personal information. They should make contact by telephone to discuss any request for information before sending you an e-mail. In cases where you provide your financial institution with information or instructions via e-mail, a diligent institution will give you a call to verify the information provided or to verify the request. It is important for you the investor as well as for the financial institution to take precautions as cyber criminals will try to impersonate the institution when contacting you and will try to impersonate you when contacting the institution. Having these telephone verifications, in addition to electronic communications done by both parties will help to prevent any losses.

Having taken these precautions, it is still very important to continually monitor your accounts to identify any suspicious activity. Contact your financial institution if you suspect any illicit activity and an investigation can be done. Your financial institution should never request financial or personal information via unsolicited emails or messages and should never share your information with a third party without your consent. Protecting your investments is equally as important as making the right investment decisions.

Dwayne Neil, MBA, is the AVP, Personal Financial Planning at Sterling Asset Management. Sterling provides financial advice and instruments in U.S. dollars and other hard currencies to the corporate, individual and institutional investor. Visit our website at www.sterling.com.jm Feedback: if you wish to have Sterling address your investment questions in upcoming articles, e-mail us at info@sterlingasset.net.jm.