There has been a rise of cases of investor funds stolen through hacked email accounts, according to the New Brunswick Securities Commission.

The trend is on the rise both in Canada and in the United States.

Fraudsters first gain access to the investor’s email account, the commission says.

At that point, they use that information to obtain the login password for an online investment account to make unauthorized trades.

If people are getting reports from individuals on their contact list that they're sending spam, or if they're receiving a number of emails from people they don't know, a hacker may have gotten access to their email, according to the commission.

The commission says people might find that their password or other account settings have been changed, or that their email provider has blocked them from accessing their account.

What to do

If a person's email account gets hacked, or if for any reason a person thinks that their personal financial information has been stolen:

• Immediately contact your investment firm and other financial institutions to notify them of the problem. You should also notify your credit card issuers to put a fraud alert on your file.
• Check your investment account for unauthorized transactions — especially withdrawals or wire transfers to an account that is not yours — and ask the firm to investigate if you find any.
• Change your username, password and personal identification number (PIN) for your financial accounts and also change your password to your email account.

A bank PIN should not be revealed to anyone, including friends or close family.