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Ira/401k theft
Old 09-21-2017, 08:50 PM   #1
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Ira/401k theft

Has anyone ever had password/identitytheft result in someone emptying your account(s)?

If this did happen, say from tdameritade, etc, is there any recourse assuming the criminal is untouchable?
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Old 09-21-2017, 09:09 PM   #2
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I know several mutual fund companies(Vanguard, Fidelity, maybe Schwab) offer a no hack guarantee. I'm not sure about any others.

Depending on the type of account there may be other protections. The best place to look is on their web site. Probably under security or relationships.
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Old 09-21-2017, 09:11 PM   #3
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OMG, please, please, no negative energy. Empty out all my accounts.
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Old 09-21-2017, 10:09 PM   #4
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Vanguard will reimburse you only if you took adequate steps to prevent and detect theft in the first place:

* you reviewed your accounts regularly for unauthorized activity
* you did not share your username, password, or other account information with a third party; you used a strong password; you did not leave your computer unattended while logged on to Vanguard's website.
* you took adequate steps to protect your computer against spyware and viruses.
* you did not respond to a fraudulent email

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/hel...dgeContent.jsp
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Old 09-21-2017, 11:11 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dallas27 View Post
Has anyone ever had password/identitytheft result in someone emptying your account(s)?

If this did happen, say from tdameritade, etc, is there any recourse assuming the criminal is untouchable?
This article gives some good advice and links to various brokerage fraud policies.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-to-...nternet-fraud/

Besides having a strong password, it's important to have alerts set up to notify you of any trade order or transfer of funds, or contact changes such as email, mailing address or phone number changes, and two-factor authorization where appropriate. This means you are at least notified if something is happening to you account that you did not initiate, and in the case of two-factor authorization, you have to respond for the activity to proceed.
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Old 09-22-2017, 02:56 PM   #6
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Almost surprises me no one has a "story" with this, one would think it happens more than we know.
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Old 09-22-2017, 04:12 PM   #7
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The only fraud I seem to hear about with IRAs/401K are suspicious "private" investments that some people fall for.
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Old 09-22-2017, 07:40 PM   #8
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The unnamed company I used to work for would have made good on this, unless the owner did something really off to make this happen. It would have caused a bad public outcry to do otherwise. I can add this would be a very rare occurrence and it is the reason companies are always working on their security.

Check your accounts often!
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Old 09-22-2017, 08:13 PM   #9
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Check your accounts often!


+1
No personal experience, but here's something I wouldn't have thought of: account plundered by ex-spouse.

https://benefitslink.com/boards/inde...pants-account/
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Old 09-22-2017, 08:17 PM   #10
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Nothing too surprising here, but this seems to be a decent checklist:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-to-...nternet-fraud/
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Old 09-22-2017, 08:28 PM   #11
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Another reason I like my 1% Merrill Lynch account.

I can't even get my money. And believe me I've tried.

The only way is agent initiated transfer. I call and they transfer. I call and they transfer funds to my checking account.
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Old 09-23-2017, 06:07 AM   #12
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+1
No personal experience, but here's something I wouldn't have thought of: account plundered by ex-spouse.

https://benefitslink.com/boards/inde...pants-account/
Yes, if you have given your ex-spouse access to the proper data.....
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Old 09-23-2017, 07:03 AM   #13
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Worked at a financial institution 15 years ago and had a situation where the wife had been making unathorized withdrawals from husband's IRA and running them through my F/I. I don't remember which company had the IRA, but the husband had to either suck it up or press charges against wife... Maybe she was a soon to be ex-wife.
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Old 09-23-2017, 08:21 AM   #14
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Originally Posted by iloveyoga View Post
The unnamed company I used to work for would have made good on this, unless the owner did something really off to make this happen. It would have caused a bad public outcry to do otherwise. I can add this would be a very rare occurrence and it is the reason companies are always working on their security.

Check your accounts often!
+1
The Megacorp I worked for would have done the same. It's not worth the negative PR.
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Old 09-23-2017, 10:34 AM   #15
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+1
The Megacorp I worked for would have done the same. It's not worth the negative PR.


I don't see how the employer would be on the hook for ID theft at the 401k provider. I could see maybe the 401k provider would restore the stolen funds and press charges unless employer/employee was negligent.
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Old 09-23-2017, 11:10 AM   #16
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I don't see how the employer would be on the hook for ID theft at the 401k provider. I could see maybe the 401k provider would restore the stolen funds and press charges unless employer/employee was negligent.
Not what I'm saying.


I worked for a transfer agent who kept track of the ownership of other's mutual funds. It would be very bad for business if they were hacked.
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Old 09-23-2017, 04:45 PM   #17
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OMG I scheduled my first withdrawal of dividends from my IRA account. So I plugged it in, put in 25% Federal withholding and 8% state withholding, and confirmed. Less than a second later I had a text and an email from Schwab asking me if I did this. I never knew that would happen, but I'm glad it did
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Old 09-23-2017, 05:10 PM   #18
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OMG I scheduled my first withdrawal of dividends from my IRA account. So I plugged it in, put in 25% Federal withholding and 8% state withholding, and confirmed. Less than a second later I had a text and an email from Schwab asking me if I did this. I never knew that would happen, but I'm glad it did
This I like, Im going to call Vanguard on Monday and see if I can do some sort of "do not send any money to me without double checking."
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Old 09-24-2017, 07:00 AM   #19
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fidelity found my wife's account and password for sale on the dark web .

they have their own hacker team that looks for this stuff .

they locked our accounts and re-did everything .

they said they have other safeguards that would have triggered if the money was attempted to be moved but they can't elaborate on it .
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Old 09-26-2017, 06:44 AM   #20
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Yes - it is a pet peeve of mine that we have all sorts of Federal protections for a "loss of funds" or "billing error" for Credit Cards and bank savings/checking accounts -- ie. the type of accounts that folks like us only have a few thousand dollars in.

The IRA/401k accounts, on the other hand, where our "big money" is stored, do not seem to enjoy any of these consumer protections.

I keep thinking that I should probably open up multiple IRAs at different companies so if any one is hacked, and I am not made whole, then it would limit the damage to my financial house.

-gauss
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