Washington, DC – A greater number of millennials are being targeted by scams, new data shows. According to the latest data from the Federal Trade Commission, scammers are taking advantage of millennials more than any other age group.
Identity theft is the fastest-growing crime in the United States. Just last year the FTC reported that 40 percent of Americans between the ages of 20 and 29 lost money to fraud. Surprisingly, only 18 percent of adults over the age of 70 fell victim to fraud that same year.
Steve Weisman, the author of “Identity Theft Alert,” says the reason for the shift in fraud target audiences is likely because millennials grew up using technology.
In the past, this made seniors more susceptible to fraud but, Weisman says, millennials are used to technology that they’ve become comfortable with it. Young people don’t often have a safeguard on their devices or their accounts like Snapchat and Instagram. Weisman also says that millennials are less likely to use a unique password for every social media account and financial account they have. This can make their accounts and devices easier to hack into.
But the scamming shift toward millennials isn’t only because it’s easier to hack into their devices. It’s also because of the financial stress millennials are facing due to the economy, student loans and a tough real estate market.
In fact, a growing number of millennials are putting even their weddings on hold and using their ceremonies as crowd-funding opportunities to save up for down payments on a house, which is the most expensive thing a person will buy in their lifetime. Needless to say, there’s a reason that 80 percent of millennials are now okay with lab-grown diamonds when it comes to choosing a wedding ring.
Scammers are taking advantage of this financial stress by preying on recent grads and newlyweds. “There are a lot of online companies that will prey upon recent grads and say ‘We can reduce your loans,’ and they’ll ask for certain advance payments and information,” Weisman said. “They turn them into victims of identity theft and steal their money.”
Weisman says it’s important for millennials to be aware of these potential scams and the long-term implications of identity theft. “The scammers can convince anyone,” said Weisman. “Anyone who says that they cannot be fooled is going to be fooled.”
The first step to improve your security is to set up passwords on your devices and to use different passwords for each one. Do the same thing for your accounts online. It’s recommended that you set up two-factor authentication on your accounts to prevent scammers from taking them over even when they have the password.
It’s also important to be aware of the different types of scams that are out there. A recent report by Microsoft found that 50 percent of adults between the ages of 18 and 34 fell for online tech support scams in 2016 (hint: if a pop-up tells you your computer is infected with spam, close the pop-up!). Yet, only 17 percent of adults over the age of 55 fell for these same scams.
Because younger Americans are more comfortable using technology, many will mistakenly believe they’ll be able to spot a scam. But scams, confidence tricks, and frauds have been given new life by technology. On top of that, the scammers and identity thieves of years past have gotten smarter. Now, anyone can become a victim of identity theft.
The solution? Constant vigilance.