Ira/401k theft

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dallas27

Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
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Jun 14, 2014
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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?
 
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.
 
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/help/SecurityOnlineFraudPledgeContent.jsp
 
Last edited:
dallas27 said:
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?
Click to expand...

This article gives some good advice and links to various brokerage fraud policies.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-to...vings-from-identity-theft-and-internet-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.
 
Almost surprises me no one has a "story" with this, one would think it happens more than we know.
 
The only fraud I seem to hear about with IRAs/401K are suspicious "private" investments that some people fall for.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
iloveyoga said:
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!
Click to expand...
+1
The Megacorp I worked for would have done the same. It's not worth the negative PR.
 
MRG said:
+1
The Megacorp I worked for would have done the same. It's not worth the negative PR.
Click to expand...



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.
 
jazz4cash said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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
 
gayl said:
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
Click to expand...

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."
 
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 .
 
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
 
gauss said:
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
Click to expand...

+1
I have multiple locations for my investments.
The bonus is you will get a bonus (example $600) just for making the move.
The bad part is, it's really harder to have an overview, and each site works a little differently.
 
mathjak107 said:
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 .
Click to expand...

Oh wow, so did you assume other personal info was out there as well and freeze and change all other financial holdings?
 
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