Tactics used by scammers have shifted drastically during the past several years, with scams being perpetrated online rising 87% since 2015, according to a new report published by the Better Business Bureau.
During the same period, scams perpetrated by phone dropped by 42%. The shift in tactics is driven by a range of factors such as the rise of social media, world events and changes in consumer behavior.
So far in 2022, scams perpetrated online are more prevalent (55%) than other delivery methods, with a higher percentage of people losing money when targeted (75%).
When breaking out scams perpetrated via phone with a monetary loss, scams perpetrated via text message rose from 11% in 2015 to 30% in 2022. Scams perpetrated via text had a median dollar loss of $800 in 2022, higher than other reported means of contact. Text messaging was the most reported offline method used to push people online.
The scam type with a monetary loss most often reported beginning online was online purchase scams (89%), followed by cryptocurrency scams (87%), romance scams (85%), investment scams (73%), employment scams (68%), and government grant scams (64%).
The No. 1 place people reported being targeted by a scam was while browsing social media (25%), followed by online shopping (24%), email (14%), search engines (10%) and job search (7%).
