The U.S. Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) today cautioned investors about a new identity theft scam designed to extract confidential information and cash from unwary individuals. The SIPC help investors at failed U.S. brokerage firms.

SIPC officials said they are investigating phony emails sent by a supposed “senior investment advisor” claiming to act for an actual SIPC member.

The SIPC says the individual whose name appears in the emails has nothing to do with the scheme, and the actual brokerage firm named is likewise not involved in the fraudulent solicitation. The e-mail asserts that the brokerage firm is acting on behalf of SIPC, in order to return funds to the investor targeted by the email.

The scheme involves an “insurance investment claim” supposedly to be made through the brokerage firm on behalf of SIPC. In order to get the information supposedly needed to file the claim, the bogus e-mail sender includes a fake SIPC “Beneficiary Information for Automatic Deposit of Payment” form that requires information that could be used to directly withdraw funds from an investor’s accounts.


“This is a scam — pure and simple. It does not relate to any actual liquidation of a brokerage firm. There is no address provided for correspondence. There is no reference to a specific brokerage firm failure. No one should provide the kind of personal information asked for in this case without first being 100%sure that it is coming from a valid entity,” stated SIPC President Stephen Harbeck.

The SIPC either acts as trustee or works with an independent court-appointed trustee in a brokerage insolvency case to recover funds.