I had almost $900,000 spirited out of my Vanguard account last year.
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intercst
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After my father died (Aug 8, 1977) my mother, who knew nothing about the stock market, after much research, decided to let a “trusted” broker (he dined with us on occasion) manage her account to be invested in bonds. About a year later she sensed something was wrong and asked me to review the account. What I found was that instead of just holding the bonds they were quite vigorously traded and the account lost about 5% of it’s initial value.
Confronted with this evidence, the “trusted” broker said he could do nothing about it because it was the bank that actually managed the account. We decided to transfer the account to the other broker my father had used. When he heard the story he said he had heard similar stories about the bank.
The “trusted” broker worked for White Weld & Co., a trusted brokerage, that had a relationship with Credit Suisse, the bank that managed my mother’s money.
Relationship with Credit Suisse
One of its most successful ventures was an international investment banking partnership founded in 1970 by Robert L. Genillard as a Managing Partner of White, Weld & Co, with Credit Suisse, called Société Anonyme du Credit Suisse et de White Weld – or Credit Suisse White Weld. Sir John Craven, later head of Morgan Grenfell, led Credit Suisse White Weld from 1975 to 1978. Furthermore, Oswald Gruebel, Credit Suisse chief from 2004 to 2007, began his career in 1970 at Credit Suisse White Weld. When White Weld was purchased by Merrill Lynch, it left the partnership with Credit Suisse and was replaced by First Boston thus creating the Credit Suisse First Boston business in London. The Swiss private banking division of White Weld, founded in 1954 as White Weld & Co. AG, became Clariden Leu. In 1962, SKA takes over White, Weld and Co AG in Zurich from U.S. investment bank White Weld, and renames it Clariden Finanz AG.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Weld_&_Co.
White Weld & Co. was sold to Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. in 1978
I have other stories about rich, powerful people squeezing the less rich and powerful.
The Captain
5 Likes
Interesting story, but it’s incomplete.
But to pull off the heist, they need to know the other account’s details — and that’s what enabled the criminals to steal from the Vanguard I.R.A. belonging to Mr. Tran’s wife. That’s the most difficult information to steal, and it’s unclear how the impostor got it. But there are plenty of ways the theft can happen — from institutional breaches to individual ones, sophisticated scams and techniques and more.
Without knowing this part investors don’t know what to do other than check their accounts from a secure location and secure computer on a frequent and regular basis. A little financial paranoia is a good thing because as Woody Guthrie pointed out, some men will rob you with a 6-gun and some with a fountain pan, and others will use an internet connection.
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I recall your story and read this one in the Times. Apparently this is a thing. The part I don’t understand is “notification”. We get an e-mail every time we do anything with the account: redeem a bond, buy a stock, transfer money from one account to another, transfer money to a checking account, etc.
I note that in the NYT article is says they were “mailed a letter”. Really? That’s a week later, best, assuming you open the envelope the minute you get it.
Most odd.
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I appreciated that you shared your experience, @intercst . I had already moved all my money out of Vanguard previously due to their poor customer service. Because of your story I put a security lock plus immediate phone text notification on all my Fidelity accounts. Also, I check my accounts every day.
Did you get all your money back from Vanguard?
Wendy
3 Likes
Yes. But my account was locked up for 2 weeks while they “investigated”.
intercst
4 Likes
Joe Crook opens an account in the name of Mr. J Goofyhoofy using your social security number. They give a different email, but they have to give the (“a”) correct address to pass KYC verifications. The email notification goes to that new email that you know nothing about, and the snail mail notification goes to your address, but looks like junk solicitation mail.
You SHOULD, however get an email whenever anything is transferred out of an existing account. That should be the default and should not be able to be turned off. But they don’t, and it is unacceptable that they don’t.
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(Intercst) I had almost $900,000 spirited out of my Vanguard account last year.
Did you keep your Vanguard accounts or move to a different brokerage?
Last month I initiated an ACATS transfer (through Fidelity) from Vanguard to Fidelity. I received no notification from Vanguard, no text, no email, no letter.
Fidelity has a transfer lockdown feature, though there is debate as to if it will prevent all ACATS transfers.
Fidelity does send me a daily email of account balances.
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