While overall fraud and account fraud has been on the decline in recent years, retirement account fraud has been increasing. (Photo by: Richard Levine/Corbis via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES – Cybercrime is one of the greatest global threats of the 21st century, and financial experts are warning that an increasing number of attacks are being carried out on 401(k) and other retirement accounts.
While the number of overall fraud and account fraud cases has decreased in recent years, retirement account fraud is up, according to Larry Goldbrum, Senior Vice President and Director of ERISA Fiduciary Services, Retirement Strategies Group, at Reliance Trust, one of the largest trust companies in the U.S.
Criminals are “moving away from card fraud to retirement accounts and loan accounts,” Goldbrum told attendees at the November SPARK Forum held in Palm Beach, Fla.
Cyber fraud targeting retirement accounts was three times higher in 2017-2018 than in 2016-2017, according to Goldbrum.
Experts at the SPARK forum stressed that these attacks aren’t just specifically targeted at the retirement accounts — hackers are looking to take over whole systems to gain access to a…
