A woman lost nearly $10,000 in a bank impersonation scheme, a man lost $1,500 after falling for a fake apartment listing and a father nearly wired $5,000 to a criminal in a fake kidnapping scheme.
This is just a taste of the fraudulent activity we’ve reported on over the past year. A new report shows how widespread financial fraud is in the U.S.
In a survey of more than 2,500 adults, the personal finance site Bankrate found that 34% of Americans have experienced a form of financial fraud or scam in the past 12 months. Of those Americans, 37% said they lost money.
“I think what we're really seeing here is that scammers are getting advanced,” said Bankrate analyst Sarah Foster. “It's far beyond just those typo-ridden text messages and emails.”
Dr. Beatriz Porras said she almost lost thousands of dollars after receiving a suspicious call from someone claiming to be from her local sheriff's department. The caller told her she had missed a court appearance as an expert witness in a case.
"They knew my Social Security Number, they knew that I'm a doctor, they knew addresses, they knew my date of birth," she said.
Porras said the caller threatened her with arrest if she didn’t pay $15,000.
Frightened, she withdrew thousands of dollars from her account to pay the court fine before realizing the call was fake.
"Thank god, you know, I didn't lose that money, but they tortured me for three hours,” Porras said.
Watch as fraud victims tell us how easy it can be to fall for:
“The through line is that they're trying to appeal to your emotions, manipulate you in some way, and really make you feel like you might not have any other choices,” Foster explained.
Foster worries that cash-strapped Americans will become more susceptible to fraud due to higher interest rates, inflation or a slowdown in the job market.
“Fake recruiters, you know, posing as people who will offer you an interview in exchange for a couple hundred or even $1,000,” she said.
Fraudsters target all ages
According to Bankrate’s findings, no generation is safe from fraud.
Older adults, or baby boomers, were most likely to experience financial fraud in the past 12 months. However, younger adults, or Gen Zers, were most likely to report losing money.
How are Americans losing money? Those surveyed told Bankrate they either sent money to a scammer or paid for a phony service (23%) or had their personal or financial information accessed and funds taken (19%).
According to Bankrate, steps to protect your finances include:
- Monitoring your financial accounts.
- Enabling two-factor authentication.
- Avoiding suspicious links or emails.
“Don't really pick up the phone if you don't recognize the number. Don't answer the email if you don't recognize the sender,” Foster said.
So, is anyone safe from financial fraud?
Bankrate found most Americans, 89%, have taken at least one step to protect their finances.
“I think it's important that so many Americans are taking these steps to guard their finances,” Foster said, “but the thing is, financial fraud can happen in an instant, and you might not realize it until it's too late.”
She warns that when something seems too good to be true or too serious to be true, it probably is, so you don’t waste your money.
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