How can someone reach into a brokerage account and initiate an ACATS transfer?
I don’t understand Clark on this. If someone can log into my brokerage account I can see how they could initiate a transfer from my account to another but I don’t think that is what Clark is talking about.
The ACATS Theft Scam: A Criminal’s Method of Operation
Criminals know so much about us because of all those various data breaches we hear about. They have your Social Security number, they know the challenge questions, and they have enough of your personal information to pull off an alarming impersonation.
Here is the step-by-step process of the ACATS theft:
A criminal will open a new brokerage account — a “shell account” — under your name. Since you’re typically given time to transfer assets in, they open it with no money. It looks legitimate because they’ve used your stolen personal data to answer all the identity questions.
Knowing you have a large sum of money invested at another firm, they initiate the ACATS transfer from the new shell account.
Electronically, zoom! All the money in your existing brokerage or retirement account is moved to the new shell account that the criminal controls.
The criminal then runs away with the money. All the money you’ve worked hard to invest over the years, poof, it’s gone.
The criminals move this money so fast that prosecution is incredibly difficult. They figure out the weak link — and right now, the ACATS system is it.
I heard that podcast too and it seemed like Clark made it seem easier than it really is. The thief would have to have my account number log into my account and initiate the transfer. I still think I’m going to put a lock on my Fidelity account like like clerk suggested.
Speaking of Clark, have you heard his once a week fill in, Wes Moss? I like the guy, him and Christa have good chemistry kind of like she has with Clark. He has some good info that I found useful.
I checked into Fidelity’s process. It appears that the transfer of funds out of a Fidelity account has to be initiated within one’s Fidelity account, but transfer into a Fidelity account can be done from outside. One can set up varying degrees of access for others, but when I tried I got a message that those others must be a Fidelity customer. I have given no access to others, but my wife is either a joint owner or beneficiary.
My password into my Fidelity account is so complicated that I can hardly remember it, and Fidelity requires 2FA, so someone would to also need access to my phone or email account. I suppose that’s possible, but I can’t think of anything more to do.