SALT LAKE CITY — It's a common stereotype that older people are easy targets for con artists, but a new report from the Better Business Bureau People found that people ages 18-24 reported losing more money to scams than older age groups.
Targeting our youth: How scams are impacting ages 18-24 highlighted how young people are targeted, and it's no surprise that some of the riskiest scams were online.
At the top of the list were employment scams, with an average dollar loss of over $1,800 for this age group.
BBB found the top ten for young people were as follows:
1. Employment
2. Online purchase
3. Cryptocurrency
4. Rental
5. Investment
6. Fake check/money order
7. Phishing
8. Romance
9. Advance fee loan
10. Credit repair/debt relief
“It’s important that we spread awareness about employment scams, especially to younger people,” said BBB Institute Executive Director Melissa Lanning Trumpower.
“About 43 percent of employment scams reported by this age group included a mention of fake check scams. Many reported being told to deposit checks into their accounts and then transfer funds to a vendor to pay for training or office equipment. By the time they realized the check was bad, the money was gone. We must make sure young people understand it takes time for checks to clear and to be sure they’re good.”
Online purchase scams made up over 29 percent of all reports submitted by those 18-24-years-old, with four out of five reporting a monetary loss.
Most scams that this age group were victimized by came through text messages or the Internet, with the most money lost in response to website or social media messages.
But the highest dollar amounts were still lost to telemarketing calls or in-person scams.
Online payments and bank account debits made up the highest percentage of payments made to scam offers.
