FINRA Regulatory Notice 20-30: Fraudsters Using Registered Representatives Names to Establish Imposter Websites

FINRA recently sent out Regulatory Notice 20-30 regarding an increase in imposter advisor websites being created with malicious intent. These fraudsters are also calling and directing potential customers to use these imposter websites. Additionally these imposters may be using these sites to collect personal information from potential customers with the likely end goal of committing financial fraud.

According to FINRA, some common features of these websites include:
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• Using the registered representative’s name as the domain name for the website (e.g., firstnamemiddlenamelastname.com).
• Including a picture purporting to be the registered representative.
• Providing information about the registered representative’s employment history, including prior employers’ CRD numbers and examination history.
• Asking individuals to fill out a contact form with the individuals’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, the subject of the inquiry and space for a message.
• Many of these sites contain poor grammar, misspellings, odd or awkward phrasings, or misuse of financial services terminology.

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FINRA suggests that “Member firms and registered representatives can take steps to identify these pages by conducting periodic web searches using registered representatives’ names.”

The potential damage of an Imposter Website could be irreversible. What can you do?

Eagle Eye by SiteQuest Compliance has everything you need to monitor the internet and discover imposter sites and other compliance threats to your firm. Our multi-query processes, lexicon searches and dynamically designed algorithms provides more accurate search results saving you time and automatically alerting you to new search results concerning your registered representatives’ identity.  

Additionally, our system considers the domain name as it searches for results and scores them for potential reviews.

Our easy-to-use workflows allow you to quickly review dozens to hundreds of search results in minutes. Many of our clients have found that with Eagle Eye they cut their workload by 80%.

If you do discover an imposter website contact FINRA and the FBI immediately.

See for yourself how Eagle Eye will support your compliance and supervision programs to monitor the web and discover these types of issues and more. Contact us today for your personalized demo.

Eagle Eye also supports your firm’s adherence to regulatory requirements like FINRA Rules 2210, 3110, 3120, and 3270 by providing supervision of the internet.
 
Read the Entire Regulatory Notice 20-30