Latest Scam Alerts

Beware of Fraudulent SMSs Purportedly from IBKR or uSMART and Claiming “Your Form W-8 BEN is about to Expire”
2025-08-27

Beware of Fraudulent SMSs Purportedly from IBKR or uSMART and Claiming “Your Form W-8 BEN is about to Expire”

Recently, scammers posing as investment platforms such as Interactive Brokers (IBKR) and uSmart Securities (uSMART) send phishing SMSs.  Most of such SMSs lure users to enter usernames and passwords on the pretext of updating tax information.  Then the scammers manipulate victims’ stock transactions and make them suffer huge losses.  The account of a victim was manipulated by scammers to buy and sell stocks around 100 times in one day.  The loss involved exceeded $1 million.

 

Defrauding Tricks

1. Scammers posing as IBKR or uSMART send phishing SMSs with hyperlinks claiming that clients’ Form W-8 BEN (a United States tax document) are about to expire and asking them to update their forms.

2. Once a client click on the hyperlink, they will visit a fraudulent website and be lured to enter their username, password and one-time passcode.

3. The scammers then hijack victims’ accounts to buy and sell stocks, and make them suffer losses.

Beware of Fraudulent SMSs Purportedly from IBKR or uSMART and Claiming “Your Form W-8 BEN is about to Expire”

Pay Attention to “#” Sign

The SMS Sender ID of IBKR is “#IBKR”.

The SMS Sender ID of uSMART is “#uSMART”.

 

Our Advice

  • uSMART has clarified that it will not ask for passwords or any sensitive information via SMS, and urged its clients not to clink on suspicious hyperlinks.  For enquiries, please call the client service hotline at 3018 4526 or contact the client service via its application.

  • IBKR has stated that it will not send login hyperlinks via SMS or instant messaging application, and clients should directly log on to its official platform for any operations.  For enquiries, please call the client service hotline at 3107 8333.

  • Do not log on to any websites or download any attachments by hastily clicking on hyperlinks embedded in suspicious SMSs, emails or web pages;

  • You may enter suspicious information on “Scameter” of CyberDefender or “Scameter+”, the mobile application of “Scameter”, for security check in addition to seeking verification from relevant organisations;

  • If in doubt, please call the “Anti-Scam Helpline 18222” for assistance.

Relevant Alerts:

Fraudulent SMSs Purportedly from Futubull or Interactive Brokers Leading to Hijacks of Your Securities Accounts and Huge Losses

List of Fraudulent Investment Platforms