It feels as easy as it does safe. With a few swipes of the thumb, investors anywhere can trade stocks straight from their mobile phones. But an expanding pool of consumer complaints suggests that online trading may be less secure than investors would hope. Bloomberg News reported last week on the experience of some users on Robinhood Markets Inc.’s brokerage app who say their money was stolen.
“Cyber hacking has now become the biggest threat to investors’ financial well-being,” said Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago-based lawyer and former president of the Public Investors Advocate Bar Association. “Unfortunately, brokerage firms haven’t invested the money needed in order to keep cyber hacking of brokerage accounts from happening.”