HONOLULU (KHON2) — A new report published by the Better Business Bureau indicates that people ages 18-24 reported losing more money to fraud than older age groups.
And fake jobs continue to be the riskiest.
Dale Dixon, chief innovation officer with the BBB joins KHON2 with more.
About 43 percent of employment scams reported by this age group included a mention of fake check scams. Many reported being told to deposit checks into their accounts and then transfer funds to a vendor to pay for training or office equipment.
By the time they realized the check was bad, the money was gone. We must make sure young people understand it takes time for checks to clear and to be sure they’re good.”
About 19% of employment scams from this age group mentioned schemes involving inspecting or reshipping packages.
Online purchase scams made up 29.1% of all reports submitted by 18-24-year-olds, with 81.4% reporting a monetary loss.
Ages 18-24 were more likely to report being targeted by text message or internet messaging than other age groups. The contact methods with the highest likelihood of a monetary loss (susceptibility) included website and social media.
The contact methods with the highest reported median dollar loss were phone call, text message and in person. This group reported a higher percentage of scams targeting them on Instagram and X (Twitter) than other age groups.
Moms, dads, grandparents, if you have someone you love in this age group, then there’s a good chance they’re looking for work – and in they’re in all the places we’ve listed.. Getting text messages, scrolling social media. They’re susceptible. And invincible.
The biggest message: know who you can trust and why you can trust them. It’s why we’re always pointing people to our website to research a business.
A quick stop our website, and you’ll quickly find any business sending checks without reason, asking you to re-ship packages or send money through a payment app outside a well-known shopping platform is only going to steal your money.
So, be vigilant out there!