The fastest growing group of scam victims
It may be the older generations struggling to adapt to new technologies that are most often depicted as those falling prey to scams, but it is actually the younger generations who are more susceptible to being fooled.
Australians under 25 lost over $5 million to scams in 2019 and reports made from this age group are increasing faster than older generations.
In 2019, around 12,000 (7.15 per cent) reports made to Scamwatch were from people under the age of 25, an increase of 11 per cent compared to 2018 figures. Reports from this age group increased by 10 percentage points more than any other age group.
“Scammers don’t discriminate based on age and the wide range of scams reported by this age group is concerning,” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said.
“Young people may think they are tech savvy, but scammers are adapting and we expect to see more scams on newer platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok.”
Facebook and Instagram were the most common platforms for reports and losses by those under 25, with typical scams on these platforms involving fake online stores or the sale of fake tickets to events.
Online shopping scams were the most common scams, making up more than 14 per cent of reports and almost 12 per cent of losses among people under 25.
“Almost half of the losses to people under 25 occurred through bank transfer but you should also be wary of sellers asking for payment through unusual payment methods such as gift cards or bitcoin,” Ms Rickard said.
“Always try to purchase tickets from authorised sellers and be aware that many links sourced through social media will not be legitimate.”
Additionally, scammers are using social media platforms and email as forums for sextortion scams, where they threaten to share intimate images or footage of you online, unless you give in to their demands.
“In many cases if you receive a sextortion threat from a stranger claiming they have compromising images or video footage of you, these images don’t actually exist, so delete the message. If you are concerned, you can contact the e-Safety Commissioner,” Ms Rickard said.
Are you surprised that the younger generations are being scammed more easily online?
It's not surprising really, most of them are online 24/7 and do just about everything through their phones. I would think they are in the lower numbers for other forms of scammer activity though, like telephone, email or letter.
The scammers have always been around. I can remember scams being used in various magazines, long before the internet, even before telephones were common. Yes, I am actually old enough to remember when there wasn't a telephone in every home. LOL.
Telephone scammers are still common but the under 25's probably don't use their phones to actually talk to people anymore. That's progress for you.