Protecting yourself against scams
From time to time, the Schroders Group is targeted by various scams. In recent incidents of this nature, individuals or criminal groups have posed as professionals working for the Schroders Group to offer counterfeit investment products. Please stay vigilant when considering any direct investment offering from the Schroders Group.
If you suspect you have been a victim of a scam and have submitted a payment, we advise you report it immediately to your bank to seek support in stopping the payment and/or recovering funds. You can also report scams and cybercrime to your local law enforcement/police.
To help you remain vigilant, we will regularly update this page to detail recent scams involving the Schroder brand for your awareness.
Latest scams
There are many types of scams, which are carried out through evolving methods with a high degree of sophistication.
Investment advertisements - fraudulent organisations use internet adverts to promote fake investments which encourage you to visit fraudulent websites that impersonate genuine companies, including Schroders. These websites often ask you to provide personal details which are used by the fraudsters to personalise future contact with you. This can include fraudsters posing as representatives of Schroders to make phone calls or send emails with prospectuses and application forms for fake investments, and re-directing to genuine Schroder websites. Please contact us directly if you have any questions or concerns regarding the legitimacy of an investment product.
Social media scam alert – fraudsters have contacted potential investors through social media such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and messaging applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram, to offer fraudulent investment and cryptocurrency products which are not sold or marketed by Schroders. If you have been contacted via social media or a messaging application regarding investment schemes allegedly associated with Schroders, please contact us through our official contact channels. We actively continue to work with social media platforms, law enforcement, and financial services regulators to help prevent this type of scam.
Advanced fee scams - fraudsters pretend to be representatives of Schroders, law firms, government authorities to offer products not sold or marketed by the Schroders group. Including claiming unknown inheritance money, asset recovery services for an advance fee or payment for remote work. Schroders does not engage in these services and will not contact you to offer these.
Remain vigilant
To help protect yourself from scam activity, we recommend you consider the following:
1. Have you received contact about an investment opportunity via phone, email, social media or messaging application that was not expected?
2. Have you seen adverts on your social media feed offering unusually high returns on investment?
3. Have you felt pressured to decide without time to consider the merits or suitability of the investment?
4. Have you been offered a high return on an investment with minimal or no risk?
5. Have you been told that the investment opportunity is exclusive to a small group of which you are a part?
If you answered ‘yes’ to one or more of these questions, we encourage you to conduct additional checks to ensure the validity of the offer.
Please remember that criminals will use various tactics to appear legitimate, such as setting up cloned websites, redirecting you to our genuine website (www.schroders.com), or sending you a prospectus with Schroders branding and our office address. At times they will also offer an initial payment to convince you to invest larger sums.
Remember to:
1. Stop and review – prior to making an investment decisions or providing personal information to third parties, fully consider the request and the investment product, including the suitability for you and whether you are expecting the contact. Schroders will never rush you to make an investment decision.
2. Question the offering - does the offer sound too good to be true? Are there gaps in the information you're being given? Does the contact information match up with what you find in the public domain? Be wary of sudden and unsolicited contact that contain urgent appeals for investment or instant payment. Confirm the legitimacy of letters/emails by examining the email address and content.
3. Protect yourself - if you believe you have identified or become victim to a scam and have made a payment and/or provided bank details contact your bank immediately. Your local law enforcement/police may also be able to provide support. Lastly, please contact us so that we can assist you and protect others from falling victim to the same scams.
If you believe you have encountered any suspicious activity, please contact us on +44(0)20 7658 4004 or contact us via reportscams@schroders.com.
We strongly encourage you to immediately contact your bank if you have provided bank details or sent funds as they may be able to assist you in stopping or recovering funds.
How to verify a genuine email
Be alert when interacting with Schroders via direct email, look out for slight misspellings of names and addresses, unusual addition of numbers and suspicious or unusual characters.
If you are unsure, do not reply to the email. Instead, contact us immediately at reportscams@schroders.com.
Scam prevention resources
The third-party site(s) below may help you with further support information. Please note, Schroders is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this site.
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
http://www.banksafeonline.org.uk/
https://www.takefive-stopfraud.org.uk/
https://www.fraudadvisorypanel.org/
https://www.getsafeonline.org/