Millions of people become victims of fraud every year. The Better Business Bureau decided to collect and study victim reports to help identify and prevent fraud in the future. They recently released their 2017 BBB Scam Tracker Annual Risk Report as a result of these studies. We’re giving you an overview of the most important findings so that you can find out the most common scams today and how to avoid them.
Each year, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) releases a report detailing scams in North America. This information comes from their online scam tracker tool. This tool allows visitors to report scams and search those scam reports. In 2017, more than 47,000 reports were made to the scam tracker. The BBB analyzed these 47,000 reports and found some interesting fraud trends in 2017.
Read the full 2017 Risk Report here.
Compared to 2016, the reported number of scams increased – but the average damage decreased. Less reporters noted they had lost money in the scam and the median dollar loss decreased by 17%.
The BBB evaluates risk based on three factors – exposure, susceptibility, and monetary loss. Exposure measures how likely you are to be targeted or how prevalent the scam is. Susceptibility measures the odds of you losing money when exposed to the scam or how likely you would be to recognize that it’s a scam. Finally, monetary loss measures the median loss you could expect if you fall victim to the scam.
Here are the 2017 Risk Report’s top 10 most risky scams:
The most popular scam happened during online purchases. You make a payment for a good or service and don’t receive what you paid for. The most common product categories associated with scam exposure were pets, clothing, and cosmetics.
It’s no surprise that online purchases took the top spot. More people are choosing to shop online rather than in-store. Scammers are recognizing this opportunity. They may impersonate a website of a brand you trust or promise a free trial to get personal information. Websites were the top method of contact for 2017 scams with monetary loss, which means you are more susceptible for falling for a scam over the internet.
Luckily there are simple ways you can effectively avoid these scams. Here are our 9 favorite tips:
We break down each of these tips in our article about safe online shopping here.
While scammers target different industries and demographics, many of their tactics remain the same. If you can identify these tactics, you will be better able to protect yourself from fraud.
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