Pepperstone, a foreign exchange broker based in Australia, has warned its clients that malicious actors are sending misleading messages on its behalf to steal data .
More specifically, the company said it discovered that malicious actors were contacting customers and pretending to be either Pepperstone or that the company had ceased operations.
The scammers are asking the company's customers to transfer money and in some cases have asked them to use a remote desktop program, according to the company.
The information that has been intercepted includes customers' names, their contact information (phone and/or email address), and their city/country of residence.
As a Pepperstone spokesperson stated: “Unfortunately, a small subset of our client contact information was compromised around July 20th. The incident was limited to client names and contact information – no trading accounts, passwords or client identification documents were affected.”
In the email sent to its clients, the global FX broker describes that the scammers have no connection with Pepperstone.
The company confirmed via email that trading account details, passwords and funding information have not been compromised.
Pepperstone first discovered the issue on July 21 and immediately launched an investigation with the help of an external partner. Pepperstone also contacted national cybercrime agencies and data privacy experts.
“This issue has not impacted our secure trading environment or our client base. Important information regarding client funding methods and trading activities remains protected and our clients can continue to have confidence in using our trading systems securely.”
