Question 7.
You receive an email from what appears to be your advisor asking you for your Social Insurance Number and date of birth in order to fill out some paper work. Should you provide this information?
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CORRECT!
You should never provide confidential or personal information over unsecure email. There have been many reported instances where fraudsters create emails that appear to be from a financial institution or person that you are familiar with, however, when you reply to the email your personal information is actually sent to the fraudster instead (this is commonly referred to as a "phishing scam"). It is sometimes necessary to provide personal and confidential information to your advisor but as a best practice this should only be done through more secure methods such as in person at a business location, over the phone where you call your advisor or are otherwise able to confirm his/her identity, or through a secure digital portal.
