Tech Byte: Better Business Bureau Warns of New Diabolical Scams
CHATTANOOGA, TN (WDEF) – Technology has given rise to new waves of diabolical criminals, from crypto scams that target people with disposable income, to online scams that target people looking for a bargain, it all adds up to billions of dollars stolen from hardworking Americans every year. So, what’s a savvy shopper to do? We get some timely advice from the Better Business Bureau in this week’s Tech Byte.
Michele Mason is the President of the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia.
She says, ” Up until the last few years, we were seeing about $10 billion lost to fraud, and that comes from the Federal Trade Commission, but with information distributed by organizations like Better Business Bureau, now we’ve seen it jump to 12.5 billion, with the majority of that jump being attributed to investment scams. Unfortunately, the biggest party that reports these and the ones that reports the biggest loss are older Americans. They do have readily available funds, typically more so than others, but also are easier to contact by phone, which is where many of these occur. And are concerned that they’re going to miss out on a big opportunity. So that has made it the riskiest scam that we’ve seen, especially in the last few years. But it’s not the most prominent.”
But that is far from the only arrow scammers have in their quiver.
Michele continues, ” The most prominent are what we call our online shopping scams, and those are involving our younger adults. So, typically, 18 to early 30s. Unfortunately, without doing homework, we find that many of these sites are being put up by someone either who disappears as quickly as they appear or could be from another country. And then what does show up, if anything, is merchandise that doesn’t look like what was presented in the ad could be extremely inferior quality, even if it’s not clothing, if it’s products, we’ve seen things that show up very differently than expected. A fun example might be someone thought they were getting a chainsaw for their husbands, and instead they got a keychain with a little chainsaw on it. So when we look at the BBB scam tracker, which is our site to gather fraudulent reports from our community, we’re finding that many people are reporting these online shopping scams. Younger adults may not be as familiar with taking the time to do research first. And this is why it’s a great opportunity to be here and remind our younger folks that you do want to still do research. If you are ready to do a purchase, that you make sure it’s a secure site. So, you need to look for the protocol at the top of the URL to change to HTTPS. It’s the S at the end that says it’s secure and also look for closed lock and just click on there to make sure it’s confirming that it is a secure site.”
And here’s one last twist. Scammers can also call you from a number that looks like it’s coming from your bank. Then they’ll start peppering you for things like your Social Security number or your account number. Well, hang up on those jokers immediately, then call the number on the back of your credit or debit card. That way you know the conversation is on the level.
