Australia-based Pepperstone made moves to notify clients to inform them of fraudsters pretending to be brokers from the company, said Finance Magnates. Some clients have fallen victim to such schemes.
According to the global foreign exchange firm, a number of customers have reported that third-party individuals have gotten in touch with them claiming that the company has shut down its operations. Some incidents claim to be representatives of the company.
Reports say that the fraudsters are telling customers to transfer their funds. In several instances, the malicious party even requested clients to use a remote desktop viewer in order to gain access to users’ devices.
Pepperstone offers various financial instruments including Forex, index, share, cryptocurrencies, and commodities across multiple platforms. It was founded in 2010 and is covered by regulators ASIC and FCA.
A spokesperson from the company told Finance Magnates that a small number of their customers were victimized by these fraudsters. They said, “Regrettably a small subset of our client contact details were compromised around the 20th of July.”
The spokesperson clarified that “the incident was limited to client names and contact details” and that “no trading accounts, passwords or client ID documents were impacted.” Specifically, only phone numbers, email addresses, and city or country of residence were obtained.
Pepperstone assured clients that the incident has been contained and that they were able to identify the malicious parties. They were also able to get in touch with victims and explained that the third-party individuals were not affiliated with the company.
In an attempt to put a stop to such attacks, the brokerage firm also reported the incident to the authorities. It is now working with cybercrime agencies and data privacy commissions.
Moreover, the company has launched an investigation in collaboration with external forensic experts right after it learned of the incident on the 21st of July.
While the firm is “disappointed” with the situation, it is confident that its cyber security measures are “already considerable.” It also remarked that the cases did not affect its secure trading environment.
They also assured clients that their funding methods and activities remain private. Important data are also safe as the firm is still safe and secure.
Forex evaluation website Forex Fraud ranked Pepperstone as the second Safest Forex Brokers in 2020 following FXTM. Other firms on the list include Plus 500, AVA Trade, and Fx Pro.
