Scammers Impersonate AssetMark, Affiliates on Social Media
AssetMark is warning clients about a social media scam in which fraudsters are impersonating the firm and its affiliates in an attempt to bilk investors out of money.
AssetMark and at least one affiliate, Adhesion Wealth, recently issued notices on their websites’ homepages about a scheme targeting would-be investors, which involves bad actors “impersonating businesses that may at first glance look like they are affiliated” with AssetMark or Adhesion Wealth.
The scammers solicit individuals directly to push investments in securities or digital assets such as crypto through platforms like WhatsApp, activity that both AssetMark and Adhesion emphasized they would never do.
“Impersonators increasingly combine relationship-driven tactics with social media promotion to gain victims’ trust,” Lori Weston, head of compliance advisory at STP Investment Services, said in an email. “These cases underscore the importance of heightened vigilance and skepticism toward investment opportunities that appear too good to be true.”
In some cases, scammers are posing as affluent young professionals to cultivate romantic relationships via WhatsApp and lure victims into opening accounts on fraudulent crypto trading platforms, said Weston.
Others are creating fake websites that mimic “legitimate U.S. securities firms and using group chats to attract investors, even deploying voice-altering software to impersonate professionals,” she added.
Read the full article in FundFire.
