Prevent Fraud
From time to time, individuals impersonate an established and reputable company with the intent of deceiving clients into volunteering personal information that can be used to steal their identity. This fraudulent activity is also known as “phishing”.
Recently, some Merrill Lynch business clients have reported receiving fraudulent e-mails that appear to be from Merrill Lynch but which have, in fact, been sent by imposters. How can you tell the difference? These fraudulent, unsolicited e-mails, typically include website links, and or request you to provide personal information.
Merrill Lynch does not initiate requests for sensitive personal or business information (such as social security numbers, tax identification numbers, account numbers or user ID/passwords) via unsolicited e-mails.
Merrill Lynch is working aggressively internally and with law enforcement agencies to investigate and resolve any such incidents.
More about Phishing
Here are some solutions to help you with safeguarding your security:
- Best Practices to Help Prevent Identity Theft and Fraud
Online fraudulent activities are being reported today in record numbers, primarily in the form of “phishing” attacks and “keylogging” activities. Unfortunately, this activity results in identify theft, financial loss and fraud, primarily due to fraudulent online requests for wire transfers, ACH transactions or other electronic means of disbursing funds.
- What is phishing?
“Phishing” is the fraudulent attempt to acquire sensitive information, usually via e-mail, and regrettably, is a type of fraud that is more prevalent in today’s society.
- How to tell that the e-mails are fraudulent?
1. The thieves fraudulently represent themselves as Merrill Lynch and their e-mails may look very realistic and include items such as the Merrill Lynch logo or website links;
2. They typically ask you to provide personal or company information (saying that they are updating their records or have lost some data) – something Merrill Lynch does not do via e-mail;
3. They may threaten termination of accounts unless you provide billing and credit card information.
Additional Safeguarding Information
Learn why your accounts are safe at Merrill Lynch, view details about the safeguards that are in place to provide you with the assurance that your assets and securities are protected, along with our Security Quick Tips and Privacy & Security pledge.
Contact Us
You can contact us to report identity theft, if you have encountered a fraudulent e-mail or if you notice suspicious account activity. Speak directly with our Security and Fraud Department by calling 1-800-MERRILL (637-7455), and say "lost" or "stolen" credit card.