The Millstone Times November 2021

Investors have survived market swings and corrections before. But a twinge of uncertainty may have you wondering if you should get another opinion to help confirm your wealth is in the right place. That’s why we’ve made it as easy as we can to have a complimentary, face-to-face meeting with a Financial Advisor. Maybe you just want to know if you’re really on track for retirement or if your investments could be better aligned to your goals. Or in the process of working hard for your money, you worry you’ve overlooked some necessary steps to transfer your wealth. Whatever’s on your mind, we’re here to listen, and we’ll help you evaluate your plan. It’s free, and there’s no obligation. Then you can decide if your wealth is getting the care it deserves. Don’t overreact to market swings. Investors have survived market swings and corrections before. But a twinge of uncertainty may have you wondering if you should get another opinion to help confirm y ur wealth is in the right place. Th t’s why we’ve made it as asy as we can to have a complimentary, face-t -face meeting with a Financ al Advisor. Maybe you just want to know if you’re really on track for retirement or if your investments could be better aligned to your goals. Or in the pr cess of working h rd f r your m n y, you worry you’ve o erlooked some necessary steps to transfer your wealth. Whatever’s on your mind, we’re here to listen, and we’ll help you evaluate your plan. It’s free, and there’s no obligation. Then you can decide if your wealth is getting the care it d serves. Don’t overreact to market swings. Investors hav survived market swings and corrections before. But a twinge of uncertainty may have you wondering if you should get another opinion to help confirm your wealth is in the right place. That’s why we’ve made it as easy as we can to have a complimentary, face-to-face meeting with a Financial Advisor. Maybe you just want to know if you’re really on track for retirement or if your investments could be better aligned to your goals. Or in the process of working hard for your money, you worry you’ve overlooked some necessary steps to transfer your wealth. Whatever’s on your mind, we’re here to listen, and we’ll help you evaluate your plan. It’s free, and there’s no obligation. Then you can decide if your wealth is getting the care it deserves. Don’t overreact to market swings. Investors have survived market swings and corrections before. But a twinge of uncertainty may have you wondering if you should get another opi ion to help confirm your wealth is in the right place. That’s why we’ve made it as easy as we can to have a complimentary, face-to-face meeting with a Financial Advisor. Maybe you just want to know if you’re r ally on track for retirement or if your investments c ld be b tter aligned to your goals. Or i the process of working hard for your money, you worry you’ve overlooked some necessary steps to transfer your wealth. Whatever’s on your mind, we’re here to listen, and we’ll help you evaluate your plan. It’s free, and there’s no obligation. Then you can decide if your wealth is getting the care it deserves. Don’t overreact to market swings. Ricardo Rive s, MBA First Vice President - Investment Officer 302 Carnegi C nt r, Suite 102 Princeton, NJ 08540 Dir ct: (609) 897-8917 ricardo.g.rivers@wellsfargo dvisors.c m fa.wfa.com/ricardo-rivers CA Insurance # 4008525 Investors have survived market swings and corrections before. But a twinge of uncertainty may have you wondering if you should get another opinion to help confirm your wealth is in the right place. That’s why e’ve m de i as easy as we can to have a complimentary, face-t -face meeting with a Financial Advisor. Maybe you just want to know if you’re really on track for retirement or if your investments could be better aligned to your goals. Or in the process of working hard for your money, you worry you’ve overlooked some necessary steps to transfer your wealth. W atev r’s on your mind, we’re here o li ten, a d we’ll help you evaluat yo r plan. It’s free, and there’s no obligation. Then you can deci if your wealth is gettin the care it des rves. Don’t overreact to market s ings. Investment and Insurance Products: • NOT FDIC Insured • NO Bank Guarantee • MAY Lose Value Ricardo Rivers, MBA First Vice President - Investment Officer 302 Carnegie Center, Suite 102 Princeton, NJ 08540 Direct: (609) 897-8917 ricardo.g.rivers@wellsfargoadvisors.com fa.wf .com/ricardo-rivers CA Insurance # 4008525 Investment and Insurance Products: • NOT FDIC Insured • NO Bank Guarantee • MAY Lose Value Investment and Insurance Products: • NOT FDIC Insured • NO Bank Guarantee • MAY Lose Value Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. © 2020 Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC. All rights reserved. CAR-0720-03330 Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. © 2020 Wells Fargo Cle ing Service , LLC. All rights re rved. CAR-0720-03330 Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. © 2020 Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC. All rights re erved. CAR-0720-03330 Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. © 2020 Wells Fargo Cle ring Servic s, LLC. All rights reserv d. CAR-0720-03330 Ricardo Rivers, MBA First Vice President - Investment Officer 302 Carnegie Center, Suite 102 Princeton, NJ 08540 Direct: (609) 897-8917 ricardo.g.rivers@wellsfargoadvisors.com fa.wfa.com/ricardo-rivers CA Insurance # 4008525 Investment and Insurance Products: • NOT FDIC Insured • NO Bank Guarantee • MAY Lose Value Ricardo Rivers, MBA First Vice President - Investment Officer 302 Carnegie Cent r, Suite 102 Princeton, NJ 08540 Direct: (609) 897-8917 ricardo.g.rivers@wellsfargoadvisors.com fa.wfa.com/ricardo-rivers CA Insurance # 4008525

rvived market swings and corrections before. But a twinge of uncertainty may have you should get another opinion to help confirm your wealth is in the right place. That’s why easy as we can to have a complimentary, face-to-face meeting with a Financial Advisor. want to know if you’re really on track for retirement or if your investments could be better oals. Or in the process of working hard for your money, you worry you’ve overlooked some o transfer your wealth. our mind, we’re here to listen, and we’ll help you evaluate your plan. It’s free, and there’s no you can decide if your wealth is getting the care it deserves. overreact to market swings.

Rivers, MBA e President - Investment Officer negie Center, Suite 102 n, NJ 08540 609) 897-8917 rivers@wellsfargoadvisors.com

Ricardo Rivers, MBA First Vice President - Investment Officer 302 Carnegie Center, Suite 102 Princeton, NJ 08540 Direct: (609) 897-8917 ricardo.g.rivers@wellsfargoadvisors.com

Investment and Insurance Products: • NOT FDIC Insured • NO Bank Guarantee • MAY Lose Value Tax pros: Beware of pandemic-related email schemes All tax pros need to beware of evolving phishing scams that use various p ndemic-related themes to steal client data. It is the tax preparer’s responsibility to ecure their network to protect taxpayer data. Tax pros, especially those who engage in remote transactions, remain vulnerable to identity thieves posing as potential clients. The criminals then trick prac- titioners into opening email links or attachments that infect computer systems. The warning about these phishing scams comes as part of the IRS and its Security Summit partners annual summer campaign. This year's theme, Boost Se- curity Immunity: Fight Against Identity Theft, urges tax pros to step up their efforts to protect client data. Scams may differ in themes, but they generally have two traits: • They appear to come from a known or trusted source, such as a colleague, bank, credit card company, cloud storage provider, tax software provider or even the IRS. • They tell a story, often with an urgent tone, to trick the receiver into opening a link or attachment. Fraudsters continue to impersonate pandemic-related government benefit programs to launch phishing campaigns. Pandemic-related scams may be deliv- ered by email, social media, phone, or text, and may reference legitimate programs such as Economic Impact Payments. Instead of providing economic relief, these scams collect personal and financial information. Legitimate government programs will have corresponding information on their official government websites. Phishing emails or SMS/texts - known as smishing - attempt to trick the person receiving the message into disclosing personal information such as passwords, bank account numbers, credit card numbers or Social Security numbers. Anyone with a smartphone is a potential target. Smishing scams may leverage the child tax credit or other pandemic-related tax-related programs to trick recipients into visiting phishing websites. A specific kind of phishing email is called spear phishing. Rather than the scattershot nature of general phishing emails, scammers take time to identify their victim and craft a more enticing phishing email known as a lure. Scammers often use spear phishing to target tax pros. In a reoccurring and very successful spear phishing scam, criminals pose as potential new clients, exchanging several emails with tax pros before following up with an attachment that they claimed was their tax information. Once the tax pro clicks on the URL or opens the attachment, malware secretly downloads onto their computer, giving thieves access to passwords to client accounts or remote access to the computer. Thieves then use this malware known as a remote access trojan to take over the tax professional's office computer system, identify pending tax returns, complete them and e-file them, changing only the bank account information to steal the refund. This scam remains popular as many tax pros continue to work remotely and communicate with clients over email versus in-person or over the phone because of COVID-19. Tax pros should follow basic security steps to protect their accounts and client data. For example, using the two-factor or the multi-factor authentication option offered by tax preparation providers or storage providers would protect client accounts even if passwords were inadvertently disclosed. Keeping an- ti-virus software automatically updated helps prevent scams that target software vulnerabilities. Using drive encryption and regularly backing up files helps stop theft and ransomware attacks. Wells Fargo Advisors is a trade name used by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. © 2020 Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC. All rights reserved. CAR-0720-03330 fa.wfa.com/ricardo-rivers CA Insurance # 4008525

m/ricardo-rivers ance # 4008525

ts: • NOT FDIC Insured • NO Bank Guarantee • MAY Lose Value

by Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Member SIPC, a registered broker-dealer and non-bank affiliate of Wells Fargo & Company. . All rights reserved. CAR-0720-03330

36 The Millstone Times

November 2021