Federal financial regulators are warning about the threat of phony regulators seeking to pry information from financial institutions.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions said that it “has become aware of individuals purporting to be OSFI employees who contact financial institutions or individuals in an attempt to obtain information under fraudulent pretences.”

It reminds firms that it does not request personal or confidential information by telephone, e-mail or fax, and it asks anyone who has been contacted this way to report the incident to the Phonebusters National Call Centre (www.phonebusters.com), a partnership between the Ontario Provincial Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that collects information about such scams.

IE