Neil Homer, IFA Stafford - How Lonsdale protects clients against scammers?

Tuesday 23 October, 2018

Lonsdale Services will do everything possible to protect clients from scammers. Neil Homer our independent financial adviser in Stafford recently received an email from a client asking to withdraw funds.

The Lonsdale Services adheres to a strict policy in that we will not action any emails for a fund withdrawal without speaking to the client first to confirm their identity and authorise the withdrawal request. In this situation Neil left a voicemail for the client on the telephone number held on file and when the client returned his call they confirmed that the email wasn’t from them.

Neil Homer, Lonsdale Wealth Management independent financial adviser Stafford and member of the Stafford financial planning team said:

‘The scammers are getting increasingly sophisticated, as they are hacking into email accounts and sending convincing fraudulent emails. Until I spoke to the client it appeared the email was from her as it was written in a similar in tone to her other emails. However, it is the company policy to always speak to clients and confirm identity before acting on withdrawal requests. We always ask relevant security questions so we can identity clients and ensure withdrawal requests are genuine. We will then only action a withdrawal to a nominated bank account in the client’s name. Understandably my client was really relieved that I had phoned to check the email information.’

Last year the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned all groups to be aware of scammers, but their research showed that older people were more likely to fall victim to financial scamming. For more information read Simon Hawker - Financial Conduct Authority figures show older people are vulnerable to investment scams, which details the tactics used to scam investors.

Last year we wrote about ways you can protect your pension from scammers by following The Pensions Regulator’s five simple steps. For more information read Steve Cook – Protect your pension from scammers.’

Neil Homer, independent financial adviser Stafford continued:

‘If you want to learn more about action you can take to avoid scammers we recommend you check out the FCA’s scamsmart, as there are videos to watch on how to avoid investment and pension scams.’

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