Legal - IPCC Corporate

Fraud Prevention

Be cautious of emails, websites and other forms of communications claiming to represent a legitimate company or person and that ask you to provide confidential or financial information. This is called phishing. The content of a phishing e-mail or text message is intended to trigger a quick reaction from you. It can use upsetting or exciting information; demand an urgent response or employ a false pretense or statement. Phishing messages are normally not personalized.

It is not Investment Planning Counsel practice to email you or ask you to provide or confirm your PIN, password, or other confidential or financial information, other than as may occur in response to an inquiry from you. If you receive such a request, or if you have any concern as to the validity of an email from Investment Planning Counsel, a website claiming to be an Investment Planning Counsel website, a digital communication claiming to be from Investment Planning Counsel and its employees, or our online security, please contact us.

Please attach any suspicious email in its original form, screenshots in the case of instant messages from other communication platforms, or in the case of a website please include the URL in your notification.

What to watch out for: 3 types of common fraud scams

Fake Job Postings Scam

On various websites and social media platforms you may encounter fake job postings. As part of this scam, you receive an offer via email to interview for a work-from-home position. A job interview is conducted online using a chat-related app (e.g. Google Hangouts, WhatsApp) and you are told you have been offered the job. Upon acceptance of the job offer, you are provided with a cheque as payment to purchase the necessary equipment, software, and training materials. You are then instructed to wire a payment to a specific vendor. Typically, the original cheque does not clear, and you end up being out the money that was wired to the “vendor”.

Tips:

• Be mindful where you post your resume; scammers use legitimate websites to seek out victims.
• A legitimate employer will never send funds and request a portion of it back.
• Do your research. A simple search on the Internet can save you thousands of dollars.
• If it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Lottery Scam

The fraudsters mail out letters indicating that you are the winner of a large sweepstakes prize (hundreds of thousands of dollars). You are told that in order to receive the prize, you will need to pay various fees, and a fraudulent Investors Group or Investment Planning Counsel cheque is provided to cover the fees. You deposit the cheque, withdraw funds, and send those funds as the fee payment to the fraudsters. The cheque does not clear, and you are out the amount of the fees.

Real Estate Scam

The fraudsters send out fraudulent payment memos to law firms throughout North America. These memos are on Investors Group or Investment Planning Counsel letterhead, are signed by a fake employee, and a large fraudulent cheque is enclosed. The memos claim that IG was instructed to make a large sum payment on behalf of a third-party to the law firm, and state that further instructions will follow once the funds have been deposited. The law firm is then instructed to send money to cover the costs associated with the fund transfer. The cheque does not clear, and the law firm is out the money that they sent to the fraudster.

Keeping you informed

As a reminder, Investment Planning Counsel will never ask you for sensitive personal information such as social insurance numbers, bank account numbers or login credentials via unencrypted e-mail or without speaking to you regarding the request. If you have questions about this program, you may contact Investment Planning Counsel at 1-800-328-6488 or refer to our website for updates on how we are responding at Client support for COVID - 19.

Resources

• For information on various types of email fraud, please visit the E-mail Fraud / Phishing on the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre website.
• The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has published some tips on how to protect yourself. For more information, visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
• If you have lost money because of a fraud, contact your local police.
• You may also contact us online or calling us at: 1-888-746-6344.