· Fifty-five percent of survey respondents failed a 10-question fraud safety quiz.
· In some good news, the majority of U.S. adults are at least somewhat familiar with government impostor scams and relationship scams (including romance fraud and the grandparent scam) – indicating public awareness is growing.
“These findings suggest that increased awareness about impostor scams is needed to help protect consumers from falling victim to these scams,” according to AARP, which said it commissioned the national survey of 2,273 adults ages 18 and older in five states: Connecticut, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were 647,472 impostor scams reported to the FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network in 2019.
Impostor scammers are con artists who deceptively masquerade as someone consumers know or are likely to trust, and who uses the trust to convince or coerce victims into sending them money or giving them personal information. Impostors often use techniques that are anonymous, quick and irretrievable.
The toll of imposter scams goes beyond the financial impact, according to the AARP survey. Among those who have been targeted and/or victimized, 18% reported that they experienced health problems or emotional distress as a result of the encounter. People ages 18 to 49 reported health or emotional issues at a higher rate than those age 50 or older.
AARP, which has 50 million members age 50 or older, offers a free helpline (877-908-3360) to report scams or get help from trained volunteers and posts fraud alerts on its Twitter account @AARPadvocates.