{"id":21811,"date":"2019-02-19T15:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bondora.com\/blog\/?p=21811"},"modified":"2019-02-19T15:00:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T13:00:12","slug":"how-to-protect-yourself-from-scammers-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goandgrow.eu\/en\/blog\/how-to-protect-yourself-from-scammers-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"How to protect yourself from scammers (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unwanted solicitation\u2014the bane of many, yet almost a routine part of daily life for all. Technology has advanced, thus we have SPAM filters and are able to ignore unknown calls (thank you, Scam ID). As technology has advanced, however, we\u2019ve seen an evolution from obvious mass-market solicitation to full-blown scams\u2014many of which aren\u2019t as obvious as we\u2019d like to think. Scams and fraud are ever-present and ever-evolving, so it\u2019s import to be aware, be informed, and be up to date with how to stay safe. Below, we share some more info on the nature of scams and fraud, in addition to some tips on how to protect yourself.<\/p>\n

\"protect<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk numbers<\/h2>\n

How do we, globally, measure and analyze fraud? Well, national audit, tax and advisory firm Crowe Clark Whitehill, together with the University of Portsmouth\u2019s Centre for Counter Fraud Studies (CCFS), publishes a report<\/a><\/u> every year looking at the financial cost of fraud. They explain:<\/p>\n

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In the UK, from the late 1990s, the Department of Work and Pensions and the NHS started to accurately measure fraud (and error) losses. In 2006, the government\u2019s \u2018Fraud Review\u2019 report said, \u201cbetter measurement is crucial to a properly designed and effective strategic response to fraud and to supporting better management of fraud risks\u201d. The National Audit Office\u2019s 2008 \u2018Guide to Tackling External Fraud\u2019 said, \u201cassessing the scale of loss from fraud is an important first step in developing a strategy for tackling external fraud\u201d. The government\u2019s National Fraud Authority produced an \u2018Annual Fraud Indicator\u2019 each year up to 2013. Since 2014, the Cabinet Office Fraud, Error and Debt Taskforce, at the behest of ministers, has required every government department to undertake
\nloss measurement exercises.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Europe, the European Healthcare Fraud and Corruption Declaration of 2004, agreed by organisations from 28 countries, called for \u201cthe development of a European common standard of risk measurement, with annual statistically valid follow up exercises to measure progress in reducing losses to fraud and corruption throughout the European Union (EU)1.\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

In the United States (US), the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 provided that public agencies should publish a \u201cstatistically valid estimate\u201d of the extent of fraud and error in their programs and activities, and this was reinforced by the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010. As a result most major U.S. public sector agencies have been measuring and reporting losses for more than a decade.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The report shows that globally, the fraud epidemic costs \u00a33.24 (\u20ac3.7) trillion each year. You heard us\u2014\u00a33.24 trillion<\/em>. That\u2019s a number that can barely be grasped. The Guardian reported<\/a><\/u> that in the first half of 2018, U.K. bank customers lost \u00a3500m (\u20ac571m) to scams. According to (dated) research by Citizen\u2019s Advice<\/a><\/u>, in the U.K. alone 4 million people are scammed each year\u2014and that number only has grown as technology has evolved and scammers evolve with it.<\/p>\n

Who do scammers target?<\/h2>\n

Generally, it\u2019s thought that most scams are targeted toward people who are the most vulnerable\u2014aka the elderly. This is very true\u2014hordes of scams target the elderly. From fake calls from Microsoft to try to \u201cremotely\u201d fix their computer, to calls from their \u201cgrandson\u201d being in jail and needing money, to intriguing emails with links\u2014scammers rely on the fact that elderly people may not be tech savvy or know any better. And often, this is true\u2014infuriating, we know.<\/p>\n

\"Who<\/p>\n

But recent research has shown that the elderly are not<\/em>, in fact, the most likely age group to get hit by scams. While the elderly lose larger average sums of money, the U.S. Federal Trade Commision reported in its annual data summary<\/a><\/u> that oh-so-tech savvy millennials actually are the most likely to get scammed. U.K. data agrees, as the 2017 report by Age UK<\/a><\/u> shows the largest category of online fraud victims is people younger than 55. This is\u2014for the most part\u2014due to the fact that young people simply don\u2019t believe<\/em> they can get swindled\u2014too smart, too savvy, too woke. The large majority think that scammers only target the elderly, which allows them the misbelief that they\u2019re safe. Not only that, but young people are so used to doing everything online and in apps, that they tend not to think twice about sharing data. According to Business Insider<\/a><\/u>, some of the most common types of scams millennials and people under 55 are susceptible to include:<\/p>\n