A new study by the Better Business Bureau has surprising results on scams and the people most likely to fall for them.
"The difficulty is when it comes to scams, it happens all the time when you least expect it," says Melanie Duquesnel, president of our local Better Business Bureau.
Duquesnel showed us results, that even surprised her, of who is most likely to fall victim.
"Out of the 1,700 scams that reported their age, we realized that 25 to 34 and 35 to 44 were the most likely groups to be scammed," says Duquesnel.
The study showed that people 18-years-old to 24-years-old were three times more likely than seniors to not recognize a scam. People 25-years-old to 34-years old were most likely to report losing money in a scam.
Another surprising result from the study is that educated individuals are the most likely group of people to be scammed.
According to the Better Business Bureau the reason is something called optimism bias.
"We get lazy, we think that well it can never happen to us, I'm too smart for that. The difficulty is, is that kind of invulnerability is not actually real…you’re not invincible," says Duquesnel.
On the other hand, senior citizens seem to understand that they are at risk and are actually more fraud savvy.
The report is called "Cracking the Invulnerability Illusion".
We are all targets these days, and the internet is a huge marketplace for scammers.
"When you’re using the internet, it’s an impersonal retailer, you don’t know who’s actually on the other side of that transaction and many of us don’t have the time, nor do we have the desire to do the homework or even verify who we’re buying from," says Duquesnel.
The Better Business Bureau wants people to rethink how they see scams, so you don't waste your money.
For more information, you can visit their website.
