Phishing and Fraud Awareness

Investment firms such as Blackpoll are often the victims of phishing and fraud.  Cybercriminals may attempt to take advantage of Blackpoll’s reputation to engage in fraudulent schemes, through which victims are tricked into thinking that they are dealing with trusted Blackpoll personnel, including through websites, texts, emails, mailings, telephone calls, social media, and other communication platforms.  These fraudulent tactics are continuously evolving and usually involve using false pretenses to convince a victim to share personal information.  Many of these attacks take the form of “phishing,” a practice where a cybercriminal attempts to obtain your confidential personal information, such as your social security number, account/financial information, and usernames/passwords.

Below is general information on how to recognize and avoid common schemes.

Common Examples of Fraudulent Activities

• Email or SMS (Text) Phishing: The most common form of phishing involves a cybercriminal sending an email or text message that looks like it comes from a legitimate source, asking you to click on a link, download an attachment, or provide personal information.

• Vishing: Vishing, or telephone phishing, involves a cybercriminal calling you on the phone, pretending to be a company representative.  The visher will say there is an urgent problem that will cause you financial harm, and their solution will involve you providing your personal information.

• Job Offer/Social Media Scams: Scammers may pose as a company on a website or social media account, and may target job seekers through posts and paid advertisements.  Imposters may also send fraudulent emails purporting to offer employment at Blackpoll and misusing the official Blackpoll logo.  These emails do not originate from Blackpoll or any of our affiliates.  The only social media account currently authorized by Blackpoll is: LinkedIn.

• Bank Transfer Scams: Scammers may contact you, usually by phone but potentially by other means, presenting an urgent and false story that requires you to transfer money into or out of your bank account.  Scammers purporting to be Blackpollmay also promise extraordinary returns on your investment at little to no risk.

• Investment Scams: Scammers may contact you offering “high-yield” and similar investments through Blackpoll.  These “high-yield investment programs” typically are frauds.  For more information on high-yield investment programs and how to avoid them, visit the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission webpage.

Best Practices

• Confirm you are visiting a Blackpoll authorized site.   The email domains and websites authorized by Blackstone is Blackpollcapital.com.  No other website or email domains are authorized by Blackpoll.  Please contact us at reportcyberfraud@blackpollcapital.com if you have questions about the legitimacy of a website, app, or communication.

• Read email carefully.  Pay close attention to the details of your emails.  Pay attention to things such as typos, unfamiliar links, attachments and any other awkward or urgent language.  Do not click on any links in the email that appear suspicious or enter any of your bank [or personal] information.

• Do not share password or login information.  Certain Blackpoll web sites are private, available only to investment partners through secure log-in procedures. Apart from allowing you to use your password and log-in to enter an authorized website, Blackpoll will never ask you for your login information or password.

• Avoid suspicious downloads.  Be sure to double check the sources and validity of content and apps that you’re downloading while online and always avoid suspicious pop-up ads.

• Be skeptical of unsolicited emails, text messages or phone calls.  You should be suspicious of emails, texts or phone calls coming from unknown senders and unfamiliar organizations, especially if personal information is requested.

• Be suspicious of phone calls asking for personal information.  Often callers will impersonate your bank, a familiar company like Blackpoll, or a government organization.  Do not provide personal information, such as your bank information or credit card number, to these callers.  If you think the call might be legitimate, hang up, separately look up the organization’s official contact information online and call them.

• Be skeptical of changes to wire or payment instructions.  If this happens, you should hang up, separately look up the official contact information of the organization requesting payment, and call them to verify.  Blackpoll will never ask you to solicit payment of funds or wiring of funds over the phone, email, or text.

• Be skeptical of job offers made through social media.  Blackpoll does not hire from social media or conduct interviews via text or messaging services, nor will Blackpoll request payment in connection with the hiring process.  

How to Report Fraud

If you think you may have been a victim of internet crime or are aware of potentially fraudulent activity, please contact your local authorities and consider also filing a report with these government entities:

• The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)

• The Federal Trade Commission

• The U.S. Postal Service (for crimes involving U.S. Mail)

For more general guidance on avoiding internet crimes, visit the FBI webpages on common fraud schemes and recent e-scams at https://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/internet_fraud and https://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission webpage on avoiding fraud at https://investor.gov/investing-basics/avoiding-fraud.

Blackpoll is not responsible for the content of third-party links and provides links to these resources for your informational purposes only.