{"id":67066,"date":"2020-03-31T19:41:22","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T19:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/?p=67066"},"modified":"2020-03-31T19:41:22","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T19:41:22","slug":"social-isolation-is-a-risk-factor-for-scam-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/?p=67066","title":{"rendered":"Social isolation is a risk factor for scam loss"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The coronavirus crisis\u00a0is forcing people to distance themselves from others, work remotely, and spend time indoors and online. While social distancing is a good health practice to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, it may be helping scammers.<\/p>\n

\"risk<\/p>\n

Research from the Better Business Bureau (BBB<\/a>), the\u00a0FINRA<\/a>\u00a0Investor Education Foundation, and the\u00a0Stanford Center on Longevity<\/a>\u00a0found that people are more likely to lose money to a scam when they are socially or physically isolated from others, if they are actively engaging online, and if they are financially vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to our research, social isolation is a key risk factor for susceptibility to scams, as is financial vulnerability,\u201d said Melissa Lanning Trumpower, executive director of the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust, BBB\u2019s foundation that conducted the research.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdd increased time spent online and coronavirus creates the \u2018perfect storm\u2019 for\u00a0scammers<\/a>, because all three of these factors have increased dramatically.\u201d<\/p>\n

As bricks-and-mortar businesses close or curtail services and the financial markets experience a high level of volatility, many consumers are left to wonder if they will have a job or an immediate way to provide for their loved ones. As people turn to the Internet seeking new or temporary employment, they are also at increased risk of employment scams.<\/p>\n

Employment scams are deemed the riskiest scams of 2019, making up 9.3 percent of all scams reported and a median dollar loss of $1,500.<\/p>\n

Despite these factors, there are steps everyone can take to protect themselves and their family from losing money and compromising personal information.<\/p>\n

Contact someone you trust<\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t be afraid to contact a friend, or a company or organization you trust for advice. Isolation is a risk factor for scams. Feelings of loneliness were associated with being more likely to engage with and lose money to scammers. This was especially true when the individual felt he or she lacked companionship and was isolated from loved ones.<\/p>\n

Fact: Scammers will try to isolate their victims.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t click on a link before you do your research<\/h3>\n

Before clicking a link or sharing personal information online, stop, pause, and research the company or person. People are more likely to lose money to scams perpetrated online.<\/p>\n

Consumers who are approached online (email, website, social media, internet messaging, and online classifieds) are significantly more likely to report losing money.<\/p>\n

Fact: A staggering 81.2 percent of consumers lost money to online purchase scams in 2019.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Beware of job offers that sound too good to be true<\/h3>\n

Employment scams were the No. 1 riskiest two years in a row. As traditional jobs are cut and workers begin to seek new roles or remote opportunities to fill the void, they must be wary of job offers that sound too good to be true.<\/p>\n

Fact: Scammers prey on jobseekers, particularly those seeking remote jobs.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Learn about cyber risk and scams<\/h3>\n

Learn about scammer tactics to help avoid falling prey to scams and be wary of any offer to \u201cget ahead\u201d that seem too good to be true. Those who are financially vulnerable are more susceptible to scams.<\/p>\n

Individuals under financial strain and those with lower levels of financial literacy may be more susceptible to scammers. Specific risk-factors include:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Household income of $50,000 per year and below.<\/li>\n
  • Spending more per month than one\u2019s earnings, not saving money, and having significant amounts of debt.<\/li>\n
  • Feeling compelled to \u201ccatch up\u201d or \u201cget ahead\u201d financially.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Fact: According to the Exposed to Scams report, those who heard about the scam before they were targeted were significantly less likely to lose money (9 percent vs 34 percent).<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The coronavirus crisis\u00a0is forcing people to distance themselves from others, work remotely, and spend time indoors and online. While social distancing is a good health practice to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, it may be helping scammers. Research from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), the\u00a0FINRA\u00a0Investor Education Foundation, and the\u00a0Stanford Center on Longevity\u00a0found that people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67067,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67066\/revisions\/67067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.myewm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}