New government data shows digital natives are falling for some online scams more than elders.
In short, engagement — not age — is the primary predictor of an online attack.
According to the Consumer Protection Data Spotlight report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released Thursday (Dec. 8) “Gen Xers, Millennials, and Gen Z young adults (ages 18-59) were 34% more likely than older adults (ages 60 and over) to report losing money to fraud” online.
On some levels, the FTC’s data is a bit of a stunner, showing that consumers aged 18 to 59 are 86% more likely to fall victim to online shopping fraud, and a staggering 330% more likely to experience investment scam losses, particularly those involving cryptocurrencies.
“Younger adults reported losses to online shopping fraud — which often started with an ad on social media — far more often than any other fraud type, and most said they simply did not get the items they ordered,” according to the FTC’s analysis of 2021 fraud and scam reports.
Young adults are “over four times more likely than older adults to report a loss on an investment scam,” most involving bogus crypto investment swindles, FTC said, adding that college students and younger consumers also got taken by job scams at rates over five times that of older demos.
This level of fraud and scam activity fooling even digital natives is both alarming and surprising but given the sophistication of fraudsters combined with the economic…
