Thieves and foreign organized crime groups are targeting American family offices, but families may not be aware because most crimes and security breaches involving the ultra-affluent go unreported, the Alliance Security Council has warned.

The ASC has issued a warning to its constituent base of some 3,000 professionals and advisors in the family-wealth community, after being approached by firms about what they perceived as a growing threat.

“Two expert firms of the Alliance Security Council approached us about what they saw as an increasing threat from foreign organized crime groups,” said Rick Higgins, chief innovation officer for the ASC. “After corroborating their information, we decided to issue this threat and defense advisory to make families aware of this very real risk.”

Founded by The Family Wealth Alliance last year, the organization advises private families and the firms that serve them on risks such as cyber security, privacy, reputation management, personal security, collections, staffing, disaster preparedness, sustainability risk, and other threats.