Odd email from Abrdn Investments; Laundering

TychoTMA

I've had an email from them asking me to sign on to a URL they've sent as follows;

Why are we contacting you?

We wrote to you recently advising that we need to gather information and possibly documentation from you about your personal circumstances. Typically, this will be information about how the investments you have with us are funded or to confirm we have the correct address and most up-to-date contact details for you. I've not had a comparable request from any other organisation; could this be a scam?

Swipe

TychoTMA said:

I've had an email from them asking me to sign on to a URL they've sent as follows;

Why are we contacting you?

We wrote to you recently advising that we need to gather information and possibly documentation from you about your personal circumstances. Typically, this will be information about how the investments you have with us are funded or to confirm we have the correct address and most up-to-date contact details for you. I've not had a comparable request from any other organisation; could this be a scam?

I'd phone them to see if it's genuine. Ignoring it could result in your account being frozen.

Doctor_Who

TychoTMA said:

I've had an email from them asking me to sign on to a URL they've sent as follows;

Why are we contacting you?

We wrote to you recently advising that we need to gather information and possibly documentation from you about your personal circumstances. Typically, this will be information about how the investments you have with us are funded or to confirm we have the correct address and most up-to-date contact details for you. I've not had a comparable request from any other organisation; could this be a scam?

Do you have an account with them and did you receive any correspondence recently? If you have an account, I would sign in as you would usually do, don't use the URL they sent, or phone them.

Eyeful

Treat any unsolicited email asking for personal information or connected with money as a scam.

Do not trust any link, phone number or URL given in this email.

If you do have account with Abrdn Investments, sign in as you normally do, alternatively use the contact information they supplied you with, when you started with Abrdn. 

dunstonh

I've not had a comparable request from any other organisation; could this be a scam?

Did you open the investments with the other organisations around the same time?

AML rules get updated periodically and the US FATCA rules resulted in a number of providers going to existing customers to obtain information that wasnt needed at point of opening but is now.

Abrdn have recently updated to the 5th AML rules and introduced further questions.

TychoTMA

Thanks for the comments. Seems to me that phoning them would be the safest way forward. After the problems that Abrdn had with their website, I promised myself I would move away from them and I think I should do that.

Doctor_Who

TychoTMA said:

Thanks for the comments. Seems to me that phoning them would be the safest way forward. After the problems that Abrdn had with their website, I promised myself I would move away from them and I think I should do that.

Being a current customer of Abrdn such emails are to be fully expected, I get similar emails from my provider. It's advisable to be very wary of cold calls and emails, and emails can be spoofed to look like they came from your provider. Whenever I get such an email from one of my providers I navigate my own way to their website using my bookmark (never using the URL supplied in the email) and login to check the correspondence. I would check what they have to say before trying to move away.

TychoTMA

It turns out that this is genuine.  I was surprised that abrdn were demanding a copy of a recent bank statement including account no and sort code. I don't recall this being requested before (?). Is this unusual or the new normal?

Whatever the case, all experience with them has been bad and I must dedicate some time to transfer my investments elsewhere.

dunstonh

It turns out that this is genuine.  I was surprised that abrdn were demanding a copy of a recent bank statement including account no and sort code. I don't recall this being requested before (?). Is this unusual or the new normal?

Most platforms ask for a bank statement, void cheque or letter from your bank unless your account passes the electronic check.