Wealth manager trade body PIMFA has warned members about a fraudster who has been impersonating a member of staff and contacting members.

The faker, going by the name Annette Dore, has been masquerading as a member of staff.

The body sent out an alert to its members this week informing them that Ms Dore is not affiliated with PIMFA in any way.

Members have been urged to contact the body directly to check the bona fides of anyone who contacts them from PIMFA if they do not know that person.

The trade body told Financial Planning Today that they were alerted to the impersonator by a member who was contacted by the potential fraudster last week.

The spokesperson added that while impersonator fraud was a worry for any organisation, the trade body was well set up to deal with the problem.

This is not the first time the wealth management market has been hit by impersonator scams.

The Coronavirus pandemic saw a glut of impersonator scams with fraudsters pretending to work for a genuine authorised wealth management or Financial Planning firms.

Smith & Williamson was one firm to see impersonator fraud soon after the pandemic began in April 2020. 

The FCA issued a warning in March 2020 after Quilter Private Client Advisers, Quilter Cheviot Investment Management and Quilter plc were also targeted by clone scammers. 

Chase de Vere also issued a warning in April 2020 that impersonators were approaching members of the public purporting to be representatives of the brand. 

Financial Planning firm boost.financial had to fight back against cloning scammers in 2019 who were trying to copy the Milton Keynes firm’s business brand to cheat the public. 

Financial Planning Wales, a Chartered Financial Planner firm, became another firm to face an impersonation scam last year as the FCA warned that scammers were using fake details of the company to try to con people. 

Earlier this year PIMFA published a guide to fraud prevention for member firms as its concerns grew around a rising number of scams. 

The guide includes information on the common types of fraud, including impersonation fraud, retail bond fraud, social media fraud and cloned websites

Earlier this year PIMFA joined 16 other organisations, including Which?, City of London Police, The Investment Association and the ABI in calling for legislation to tackle the growing menace of online fraud in the Online Safety Bill. 

The Government has confirmed that online fraud will be covered by the Bill, but many industry figures have concerns that not all online fraud will be covered.