FINRA Investor News
December 18, 2008 |
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Investor Alert
"Phishing" and Other Online Identity Theft Scams: Don't Take the Bait - Stay alert to avoid the newest scams
Fraudsters can turn on a dime when it comes to creating new pitches to separate hard-working Americans from their money. Virtually any news item, positive or negative, can become a "hook" for a new scam—and the current turmoil in global financial markets is no exception.
According to computer security experts, economic cyber-crime is surging following stock market declines and the announcement of a federal financial bailout package. For example, one Internet security services provider reported that "phishing" attacks—which are scams that use spam email to lure you into revealing your bank or brokerage account information, passwords or PINs, Social Security number or other types of confidential information—increased by 16 percent between August and September 2008 and jumped by 103 percent the following month.
Many of the latest phishing spams exploit announcements about the failure or merger of a well-known bank and appear falsely to come from reputable financial institutions. We recently reissued this Alert to inform you about some of the latest online identify theft scams targeting financial sector customers and to provide tips for spotting and avoiding these scams.
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Investor Information
FINRA Launches Comprehensive Mutual Fund Expense Analyzer
FINRA recently launched the Fund Analyzer, an innovative, easy-to-use online tool to help mutual fund investors make smart investment choices. The Fund Analyzer combines the capabilities of the two online tools it replaces—FINRA's Mutual Fund Expense Analyzer and Mutual Fund Breakpoint Search Tool—into a single, convenient application for investors and brokers looking to compare and evaluate investment options.
Investors can now search and compare up to three funds at once for fund analysis and information about fees and potential breakpoints with one tool. Since its launch in late 2005, FINRA's Mutual Fund Expense Analyzer received nearly 900,000 visits and was used to analyze nearly 2.7 million funds.
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Past Issues of Investor News Available
In response to numerous requests, previous issues of Investor News are now available on our Web site. |
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