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Slick TV ads often make financial planning and wealth management sound simple, but it’s usually not. Managing wealth requires knowing a lot about highly technical topics, like taxes, government regulations, and finance as well as history, psychology and how to communicate with loved ones about sensitive issues. This article highlights some of the knowledge needed to manage wealth and why it’s often so daunting without the help of an independent personal financial advisor who is familiar with your situation.
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A Sign Of Progress In Solving U.S. Economic Problems
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Fed Keeps Rates Unchanged; Expects Easing In 2024
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Have You Logged Into Your Social Security Account?
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The Great Fake Out Of 2023 Is Poised To Extend Into 2024
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Test Your Financial Planning IQ
The five questions below are a challenge meant to allow you to assess your knowledge of investing, tax and financial planning. If you have been following our news stream, this quiz draws on familiar ground. The answers are below.
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Planning Briefs
New Identity Fraud Tactic Targets Amazon Prime Users
Published Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at: 8:37 PM EST
If you receive an email update on an order from Amazon that you did not place, beware; it’s likely an attempt to steal your credit card information.
Unlike emails from Nigerian royalty and other obvious scams, this fraudulent email contains none of the telltale spelling or grammatical mistakes. It’s not yet filtered by Microsoft and spam protection software. It is a new and sophisticated financial fraud threat.
The fake Amazon Prime email order is billed to you but shipped to a strange name and address unfamiliar to you. A toll-free number is provided.
“Thank you for calling Amazon,” says the person who answers and gives you his name. ”How may I help you today.” (Listen to a fake Amazon rep)
This is where the sophistication of the fraudsters is most frightening. With the din of a call center in the background, the fake Amazon representative never asks you for your account password after you explain why you are calling.
Adding credibility, the fake rep tells you to check your email because he is sending you a one-time password. Even a skeptic now is likely to believe this is a real Amazon representative!
The fake Amazon rep is careful never to ask for your full credit card numbers but eventually connects you to another department to cancel the fake order. To be clear, the fake email and fake representative was all a setup. The final stage of the fraud is still yet to come.
To generate the one-time password, the fake Amazon rep simply used your email address to request a new password for your Amazon account. That generates an email to you, but makes it seem legitimately sent by the fake Amazon rep you are talking to.
In this case, the bad guys hung up the phone after questions about their location and verifying their identity, but it’s easy to see how many consumers could fall victim to this scam.
Please let us know if you would like to receive alerts about online financial fraud.
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