BROKERAGE ACCOUNTS AND IDENTITY THEFT - BROKERS REPAY $22 MILLION TO VICTIMS

Brokerage accounts, where consumers manage their retirement savings and investment accounts are a major target of professional identity thieves. With a little work and technology, they are easy to break into and the amounts of money to be stolen can be very large.

This week E-Trade and TD AmeriTrade revealed that they had paid $22 million to clients whose accounts had been taken over by identity thieves.

The vector of the crime – overseas clients using wireless networks or public computers infected with spy ware.

At KnightsBridge Castle we have always advised clients not to use public wireless systems or public computers to access personal financial accounts. That these access efforts were made outside the US makes security enforcement even more difficult.