Scams are everywhere, from a suspicious phone call or an online offer that seems excessively generous. Karen Smith with the Better Business Bureau wants people to be more aware of scams and better able to avoid them, and was in Yorkton at the Chamber of Commerce business luncheon to talk about scams and how the Better Business Bureau has tools to help.
“We are just trying to make a marketplace that is trustworthy, for both parties.”
While the typical image of a scam victim is generally a senior hoodwinked by a smooth talker over the phone, whether it’s someone pretending to be a grandchild or someone trying to convince them that the Canadian Revenue Agency has something against them, in reality the most common victim of scams is a man under the age of 35, Smith explains. Men are more at risk for seven out of ten scams. She suspects that this is due to an increased willingness to take risks, which can also contribute to more workplace injuries, for example.
Another factor is the changing medium of scams, with a decreased emphasis on phone scams, which tend to be targeted towards seniors, to internet scams, which are directed towards younger victims.
“Seventy five per cent of scams are coming from an internet-based vehicle. So by that it could be a cell phone text, it could be an email, it could be various things you might click on.”
The problem with scams is that people are unwilling to report that it happened to them. Smith notes that five per cent of people actually report, but says that the people who do report make a big difference. One scam, a tax scam where callers made false claims about income tax, dropped eight places in the BBB’s annual top ten scam report because of information given by scam victims, which allowed police to shut down the call centre that was operating the scam itself in August of last year.
“It was our database of victim reports that helped us shut down that call centre in India. Without the very real evidence, the facts to support it, law authorities don’t have any basis to shut down scammers, you have to give them the evidence. The way that we can do that, the way that we can facilitate that, is to have everyone who is scammed or thinks they are, whether they fall for it or not, is to report it in ScamTracker.”
To do that, go to bbb.org/scamtracker. Smith notes it can also be used to find information on different types of scams and see what might be operating in your area.
