A new study released by the Better Business Bureau (BBB) reports two age groups who are more likely to be scammed than others…
Inc.com reported the BBB did a study recently and found Millennials and Generation X’ers are far more likely than senior citizens to fall victim to scammers. The report found out of those who were scammed, 89% of senior citizens reported the issue promptly. This did not fall victim to a financial loss. Interestingly, when it came to Millennials and Gen X’ers, only 66% reported the issue fast enough to prevent losing money.
It was determined one of the issues that led to individuals being less likely to report the issue promptly is the belief that they weren’t ever a victim. The idea of being invincible against malware attacks and scammers leads the individuals to believe it is not occurring to them, when indeed it is. Once the victim realizes the issue, it is too late and they end up losing money.
Another factor playing into the susceptibility of becoming a victim is the online activity of the PC user. Many scams occur when shopping online. According to the study, individuals who are 45 years old or younger tend to do more so than those older than 45.
Here is the message Inc.com wants you to take out of the BBB study:
The lesson for everybody: Understand that you can become a scam victim as much as anyone else can, so stop and think when being solicited to spend money – and exercise caution accordingly.
To heighten your security we recommend implementing application whitelisting technology to block all unwanted and unsafe programs from executing. Lastly, think before you click!
