Some 120 members of the University of California’s retirement savings program were victims of fraud, according to a University of California statement Oct. 18.
The retirement program's record keeper is Fidelity Investments, the university said.
The university said Fidelity’s cybersecurity team had identified and corrected the issue, and had taken steps to protect all affected accounts, including calls to the affected participants. UC did not provide additional information on the nature of the fraud involved.
“Fidelity takes its responsibility to identify and prevent fraud seriously,” Fidelity said in a separate statement.
Fidelity recently identified individuals attempting to commit fraud using the Fidelity Youth Account, a brokerage account for teenagers, and took immediate steps to address and mitigate the issue.
“This is an isolated issue, and our teams have validated that we have resolved the issue,” the firm said.
The University of California told its retirement plan savers that Fidelity would reimburse any losses from unauthorized account activity, provided the activity was not due to their own actions. It also urged them to stay vigilant about cyber risks and monitor their accounts regularly.
The fraud follows a recently reported data breach that also occurred at Fidelity. On Oct. 9, Fidelity notified the Office of the Maine Attorney General that 77,099 customers were snagged in a data breach that leaked some of their personal information.
Following the note to the Maine attorney general, Fidelity was sued by two customers claiming damages for emotional distress. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, was filed Oct. 10 in a U.S. District Court in Boston.
