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Financial encyclopediaReviewed 2026-10-23

Impersonators

Impersonators may falsely claim to be affiliated with the SEC (or another federal government agency) in an attempt to steal your personal information or your money. Federal government agencies, including the SEC, do not endorse or sponsor any particular securities, issuers, products, services, professional credentials, firms, or individuals.

Sources and references ↗
PROFILE / FACT FILE

Concept at a glance

Term
Impersonators [1]
Subject area
Investor.gov glossary [1]
Jurisdiction / scope
US regulatory and investor-education context [1]
Primary reference
SEC · Investor.gov [1]

Definition and explanation

Impersonators may falsely claim to be affiliated with the SEC (or another federal government agency) in an attempt to steal your personal information or your money. Federal government agencies, including the SEC, do not endorse or sponsor any particular securities, issuers, products, services, professional credentials, firms, or individuals. [1]

Fraudsters may use the names of real SEC employees to trick you into providing personal information such as your social security number, financial account information, and contact information. Or they may pretend to be affiliated with the SEC to lure you into an advance fee fraud scheme . [1]

In some cases, impersonators target investors who have previously been fraud victims . [1]

Source-supported connections

Impersonators → Mentioned in the official explanation → Advance Fee Fraud [1]
Impersonators → Mentioned in the official explanation → Security [1]

Frequently asked questions

What does Impersonators mean in the cited reference?

Impersonators may falsely claim to be affiliated with the SEC (or another federal government agency) in an attempt to steal your personal information or your money. Federal government agencies, including the SEC, do not endorse or sponsor any particular securities, issuers, products, services, professional credentials, firms, or individuals. [1]

RELATION MAP

Impersonators connection map

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Impersonators

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Links retain their source-specific meaning. Award-time affiliations and links to related reading are not claims about current appointments or economic causation.

Sources and review dates

  1. US SEC · Investor.gov — Impersonators ↗

Reviewed 23 October 2026. Historical dates and award-time affiliations retain their original context. A review date is not an event date. Background sources are identified separately from official records.

Content preparation: source-based compilation with AI assistance. See methods and attribution. Named sources identify the underlying records; no individual expert review is claimed.