Many people think that scammers primarily target the elderly with their fraud schemes assuming general cognitive decline and more isolation. And they assume that youth are more used to using computers and modern smartphones and as “digital natives” are savvier to detecting scams in their daily lives.
According to research
that Amazon and Global Cyber Alliance (GCA), an organization the encourages
good cybersecurity internationally, conducted, plus research by the Better
Business Bureau (BBB), young adults are as susceptible to being victimized by a
scam as older adults. And the median loss for young adults is higher than for
older adults.
The Federal
Trade Commission’s (FTC) data, based on scam reports that it receives from the public,
has a slightly different take on the subject. Its chart on “Explore Age &
Fraud Loss” shows that younger age groups have just as much susceptibility as
older age groups (between 70 and 88 Fraud Loss Reports per 100k population).
The dramatic exception is 80-year-olds who are much less susceptible to reporting
a fraud loss, 43.27 reports per 100k population. but when 80-year-olds do
report a loss, they lose $1,500 median average loss. Median loss ranges between
$400 and $500 for age groups between 20 and 60 years old. 60-year-olds increase
their loss to $600 on average and 70-year-olds lose an average of $1,000.
Amazon in
collaboration with the GCA has developed an online education program called
Cyberflex that targets young adults 18-25 years old. The Cyberflex web site, https://gcacyberflex.org/, uses a series of interactive questions that cover real world
situations and what to do to keep secure during each. It also educates the user
on good security practices to protect against scams and cybersecurity crime.
Finally, it provides steps to take to recover from a scam.
With scams so
prolific in our modern lives and so easy to perpetrate, it is important that
people of all ages educate themselves on how they can protect themselves from
scams and cybercrime. Encourage your family and friends to spend some time on
the Cyberflex web site to become familiar with scams and how they can protect
themselves from scams and cybercrime.
Amazon:
Cyberflex:
https://globalcyberalliance.org/cyberflex-launch-amazon-help-young-adults-avoid-scams/
https://gcacyberflex.org/about/
https://globalcyberalliance.org/
Better Business Bureau:
https://bbbmarketplacetrust.org/riskreport/?_gl=1*mlujma*_gcl_au*MTAxMDU4MzQ2MC4xNzE4NjQ3MzIy
Federal Trade Commission:
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/federal.trade.commission/viz/AgeandFraud/Infographic
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