HONOLULU — There is no doubt that scams have gone high tech, but the riskiest scam is the face-to-face home improvement scam, with fake check scams running a close second, according to the new BBB Risk Index, a sophisticated analysis that goes beyond volume to look at the risk each scam type poses.
The BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust kicked off National Consumer Protection Week (U.S.) and Fraud Awareness Month (Canada) with its inaugural BBB Scam Tracker Annual Risk Report, which providescomprehensive insight into scams based on the more than 32,000 reports made to BBB Scam Tracker in 2016, the BBB said in a press release Monday.
The data showed men were more vulnerable than women in seven of the top 10 scam categories; and consumers 18-24 are the most likely to lose money to a scam.
New information uncovered in this analysis is that younger consumers have a lower median loss than people in their top earning years, partly because the types of scams aimed at older consumers tend to have higher median losses.
While seniors also tend to lose more money than Millennials when they are scammed, they fall for scams far less often. And the biggest takeaway is that no one is immune from the risk posed by scams.
The top five in order are home improvement scams; fake checks and money orders; employment scams; online purchase scams; and advance fee loan scams.