Teens fall victim to online scams faster than their grandparents

Being ultra-technological is apparently not enough to protect yourself from online scams, suggests a new report.

According to a study by Social Catfish, the number of individuals aged 20 and under – members of Gen Z who grew up on smartphones and the internet – reporting to be victims of cyber fraud has increased by 156% in the past three years. online identity verification service. This compares to a 112% growth over the same period among people aged 60 and over, the group with the second fastest growing scam.

“It’s alarming,” said David McClellan, president of Social Catfish. “The generation we consider to be the most Internet savvy … is the one with the fastest growing numbers when it comes to scams.”

For those under 21, complaints to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reached about 23,200 last year (up from 9,000 in 2017), resulting in a loss of about $ 71 million (up from 8 , $ 3 million in 2017).

“This age group is very comfortable being online and talking publicly about their life,” said McClellan. “So that makes them very confident when they are on the Internet.”

While the growth in complaints has been the fastest for the country’s youngest generation, more older Americans are victims overall: Last year, around 105,300 complaints of online scams among people aged 60 or over. more resulted in a collective loss of $ 966 million, according to the study.

Overall, victims of all ages collectively lost $ 4.2 billion in 2020, according to an FBI report, which the Social Catfish study relied on as part of its research.

Here are some common scams that target teens or young adults and how to avoid them, according to Social Catfish:

• Job scams: Beware of any work that sounds too good to be true or that asks you to pay money for training. Never provide personal information without doing a thorough investigation of the company.

• Online influencer scams: It’s all about setting up fake social media accounts that mimic the influencer, running a contest, and then asking the “winner” to pay a fee or provide their bank account number to get their prize. Never send money or banking information to someone you don’t know.

• Online shopping scams: This fraud is from a website that was created to look like a legitimate online store selling items at a great price. However, the item you ordered never arrives and the scammers have your credit card and personal information.

Warning signs that a site is bogus include a high frequency of typos or a customer service email that looks like a personal email (for example, ends with gmail.com). Additionally, be sure to research the company if the offers seem too good to be real.

• Romantic scams: These scammers end up winning a person’s heart and then try to get the victim’s money as well. If the person doesn’t want to video chat or meet in person, that’s a huge warning sign.

If you are the victim of an online scam, you can report it to the Federal Trade Commission and the FBI.