News Release

Vancouver – The B.C. Securities Commission is warning investors to carefully review and safeguard records of their personal financial information to protect against becoming victims of identity theft.

“You should carefully review your monthly brokerage, mutual fund, and other statements as well as trade confirmation slips as soon as you receive them, and file them away safely,” said BCSC Executive Director Steve Wilson.

“If at any time you don’t get your statement or if you find any transaction that you did not authorize or remember making, contact your broker or adviser,” said Wilson.

“Your brokerage statements are no different than your credit card and bank statements,” Wilson said. “They all contain valuable info about your finances so you need to keep them safe or dispose of them in a way that prevents others from gaining access to your personal financial information.”

“You shouldn’t rely solely on a third-party’s electronic record-keeping system of your financial records,” Wilson warned.

You should always:
· ensure that you receive all statements on a timely basis
· keep your own notes of all transactions, especially those conducted over the telephone or the Internet
· review all monthly statements carefully to make sure that you authorized all transactions
· question any transaction or item on your statements that you don’t recognize or understand.

For more investor education information and tips on how to better protect yourself against investment fraud and scams, visit the commission’s website (www.bcsc.bc.ca) or contact the BCSC at 604-899-6500.

The B.C. Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating trading in securities and exchange contracts within the province.