Protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud
In the past years, there has been an increase in scammers impersonating trusted organizations like Partners Group. Such criminals carefully prepare their scams to trick you into letting your guard down and sharing personal information or making payments.
Protect yourself from scams:
- Stay alert when you are contacted by a person you do not know, be that via telephone, email, social media or otherwise, or if you come across a social media advertisement or post offering investment advice or promoting an investment opportunity.
- Take a moment to question and research if the request or offer you have received could be fake.
- When in doubt, individually research a company's official telephone number instead of calling a number given to you by a potential scammer.
- If you believe that you have fallen for a scam, immediately contact your local law enforcement as well as your bank to report what happened. Local law enforcement and your bank will support and advise you on any further steps to take.
Please note that Partners Group:
- does not provide financial services or directly market products to retail clients
- does not ask for any kind of payment without you having signed proper paperwork
- does not accept any payments without having conducted all legally and regulatory required client due diligence and anti-money laundering checks including verification of investor identity and origin of money
- does not have a cryptocurrency division and will not offer you the possibility to invest in cryptocurrency
- will not ask you to make an investment via telephone, a non-official business email address or a social media account
- will allow you to always verify any officially issued payment requests by using Partners Group's Document Verification Service (https://verify.partnersgroup.com/)
- is in no way affiliated with AG Partners, AGPartners Group, Partners Japan Co. or the domains agpartners-group, yieldario-ai.nt, yieldarioai.ch or fynvexes.com.
While Partners Group does post links to job openings on social media (LinkedIn and Instagram), we do not extend job offers via our social media accounts.
Potential fraud cases which have been reported to Partners Group:
Scam groups operating social messaging accounts
We are aware that unknown and unauthorized people operate scam groups on social messaging accounts using the Partners Group’s name and logo, as well as the names and likeness of our employees. These groups use publicly available information and public regulatory filings to impersonate Partners Group and our employees and sometimes claim to be in partnership with other reputable global investment firms. We have notified the relevant authorities regarding the existence of these groups.
These groups are a scam and are not associated with or authorized by Partners Group or its employees in any way. Partners Group does not provide investment advice to the general public and does not offer investment opportunities or conduct investment dealings via social media platforms or social messaging groups.
Deepfake video fraud
We are aware of fraudulent deepfake videos circulating on social media that use AI technology to impersonate Partners Group representatives and misuse Partners Group’s name, logo, and reputation to promote fraudulent investment schemes and solicit people into making payments. These fabricated videos falsely suggest that Partners Group or its representatives endorse or promote specific investment opportunities, and the scammers exploit the trust associated with Partners Group and its representatives to deceive viewers.
These deepfake videos are fraudulent and are not authorized by Partners Group or any of its representatives. Partners Group has not and will not endorse or promote any investment advice and does not offer investment opportunities or conduct investment dealings via video on social media platforms or social messaging groups.
Always check the source of the video before opening any links. If you encounter a deepfake video impersonating a Partners Group representative or promoting investment schemes using Partners Group's name:
- Do not follow any links or instructions provided in the video or associated comments/posts
- Do not provide any personal information or make any payments
- Report the content as fraudulent to the respective social media platform
- Notify your local law enforcement authorities
If you think you have been a victim of a scam, you may wish to consider the following actions:
- Report the fraud to police and/or relevant authorities;
- Contact your bank or financial institution and any other banks or financial institutions that you have transferred funds to in connection with the scam and inform them of the fraud;
- Consider reporting the group as a scam/fraud within the relevant application, reporting any relevant websites via the website’s domain hosting platform; and
- You may also wish to seek legal advice.
How to stay safe online
Only visit trustworthy websites
A secure website will start with https:// in front of the address. Never enter confidential data if you are uncertain about the legitimacy of a site.
Be mindful when using social media
When using social media channels or social messaging groups, exercise caution in relation to advertisements or postings promoting investment opportunities. Before following any links, carefully verify the source and legitimacy of the advertisement. Partners Group would never market any of its products or ask you to make an investment via social media advertisements or postings.
Use of trusted computer
When accessing confidential online information, make sure you use a trusted computer or mobile device. Do not use public computers such as computers in internet cafés, lobbies, etc. to access online services or perform financial transactions.
Log off the online session and clear the browser cache after every session.
It is recommended to manually log-off all online sessions once finished and to clear the cache data. The browser’s cache stores the contents of all the web pages that have been visited. Hence it is advised to clear the cache to safeguard private information and prevent another user from viewing what you have entered.
Content encryption
Partners Group advises clients to consider the use of encryption technology to protect highly sensitive or confidential information.
Keep your software up to date and disable unneeded services
To be even better protected, update operating systems, anti-virus and firewall products with security patches or newer versions on a regular basis. Consider the use of spam filters and even "antiphishing" software to help screen out potential phishers on websites and emails.
Generally, disable unnecessary services such as printer or file sharing when accessing the internet in order to avoid infection by malware.
Backups
Regular backups of critical data are essential, and Partners Group advises clients to regularly take backups of such data.
Phishing
How to spot suspicious calls and emails and the best way to address them
Phishing is an attempt to access sensitive information such as passwords, bank details and account information through seemingly legitimate telephone calls, websites and emails.
Based on advice by financial services regulators such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Partners Group educates clients and staff on the dangers of email-based phishing. The information herein mainly focuses on the My Partners Group portal.
Always review unsolicited contact
Clients should be attentive to any unexpected email, phone call or fax that claims to be from an asset manager, bank, credit card or online company. Never share confidential information with anyone if in doubt about the sender or the reason for the request. If any doubt about communication received from Partners Group arises, please contact your client relationship manager and delete such junk or chain emails.
Don't click on links or download attachments from suspicious emails. Moreover, don't install software or run programs of unknown origin.
Sometimes it can be difficult to differentiate a phishing email from a genuine one. Beware of unusual sender addresses, spelling mistakes and strange elements such as the tone of the email, disclaimers and logos. If there is any doubt about the authenticity of an email, please contact your client relationship manager.
Verify payment requests
When receiving bank details over email, we recommend calling the recipient on a known documented number that is not in the email to verify the details.
Ignore emails about allegedly unusual account activity
Phishing emails often aim to incite curiosity or a sense of urgency in order to get the recipient to click a link or open an attachment. Genuine organizations are highly unlikely to contact clients by email in order to inform them about suspicious payments or transfers from their account.