The Globe and Mail

It cuts deep into your soul - and pocketbook.

Investment fraud leaves victims financially, mentally and spiritually violated, and often feeling foolish they were taken by the likes of U.S. financier Bernard Madoff and Norbourg former chief Vincent Lacroix.

The two, now serving prison time for using Ponzi schemes to defraud thousands of investors, are visible reminders that you can't be too careful when putting hard-earned cash into the hands of someone given the task of looking after your financial welfare.

While investor fraud has many faces, none is as scary as the virtual, or online, scam, because these fraudsters can be anywhere and remain anonymous, making them difficult to catch.

All the more reason for online investors to tighten the security reins.

"Fraud of any type causes people to second-guess the whole concept of investing," Mark Phillips, managing director, trading and services for Scotia iTrade, says from his Toronto office.

"But people have to realize [fraudulent activity] is such a small component of the industry itself, so industry members are really driving across the message to investors that security comes down to individuals and how they protect themselves."

Don't neglect 'no-brainers'

In announcing Canada's Cyber Security Awareness Month in early October, Public Safety Canada, the RCMP and the Retail Council of Canada armed retailers across the country with brochures on how to protect against cyber-theft crimes.

Some anti-cyber-attack strategies are no-brainers. They include updating computer software, using a firewall and anti-virus software, blocking spyware attacks, securing wireless networks, changing user names and passwords regularly, never opening suspicious e-mails, and checking websites before inputting personal and financial information.

But something as simple as using the "remember password" mode on an account can turn into investment suicide.

Tony Buliga, co-owner of T&L Tax and Finance, a tax-return and bookkeeping business in Windsor, Ont., is a stickler for security while investing in stocks and bonds and managing his portfolio online, sometimes with advice from his broker.

"I just follow all these tips, rules and suggestions [that] all these companies give you with Internet safety, computer safety - as long as you do that, you're as secure as you can get," says Mr. Buliga, 44. "As well as those, I always use my own computer at home - and I don't use a cellphone if I'm talking to an investment adviser or broker, because police scanners can pick up cellphone frequencies and the information given when you're on them, like account information and phone numbers."