Many people associate online scams with their parents or grandparents, those non-native internet users who might easily fall for a run-of-the-mill phishing attempt.
But it’s actually the generations that are perpetually online, like Gen Z, that are the most susceptible, and so it is Gen Z that is actually losing the most money — by far — to online scams.
According to a new report from the Better Business Bureau, people aged 18 to 24 reported the highest median dollar loss on average to scams for the second year in a row.
Gen Z lost $155 on average to scams in 2023, with most of the money going to rackets related to employment, online purchases, and investment or cryptocurrency, the BBB says.
“This is kind of the first generation that has really grown up with all the devices, and so they are very comfortable being on the phone, being on the laptop, and conducting everyday business there. So scammers, of course, are going to take advantage of them in that way too,” BBB director of education and community engagement Katie Galan told NBC.
While the BBB’s scam tracker does not collect data for people under 18, the agency says scammers are increasingly targeting younger victims as well.
Of the 20% of survey respondents who said they have children between 7 and 18, 16% said scams targeted their children in the last year. This is an increase from 2022, when just 11% said scammers targeted their children, according to the report.
Adults between 55 and 64 reported losing the lowest average amount to scams, with a total average of $91 lost per person. Respondents in that age range were more susceptible to investment scams and home improvement scams, the report says.
Romance scams, meanwhile, primarily targeted people over 65, some of whom have lost significant sums, according to the report. Overall, boomers lost $109 on average to online scams.
Romance scams rose from No. 7 to No. 5 on the BBB’s list of biggest scams due to an “increase in susceptibility and a high median dollar loss.”
Median dollar loss from romance scams rose from $1,411 in 2022 to $3,600 in 2023. In 2023, more than 65% of romance scam victims reported losing money to the scam, compared to just 16% in 2022, the report says.
The BBB says the percentage of those who reported losing money to romance scams grew over 300% in just the last year. Romance scammers are now introducing victims to cryptocurrency, eventually turning their romantic conversations toward finance and tricking them into investing in fake crypto platforms.
The US Postal Service took the No. 1 spot for companies impersonated by scammers in 2023. It replaces Amazon, which fell to the No. 2 spot, the BBB said.
Other companies frequently impersonated by scammers included Publisher’s Clearing House, the Geek Squad, Norton, Paypal, Microsoft, Walmart, Facebook, and McAfee.
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