A study by the online investigation service Social Catfish found people 20 and younger fell for scams faster than any other age group between 2017 and 2022.
Good Morning Cleveland anchor Mike Brookbank spoke with Ericka Dilworth, the director of operations at the Cleveland Better Business Bureau, about the growing trend.
"I think the younger demographics are a little arrogant when it comes to we can't be scammed, but that's not what we're seeing," said Dilworth.
Between 2017 and 2022, money lost by young adults from scams grew by more than 2,000% compared to 805% for senior citizens, according to Social Catfish. In 2022 alone, scam victims 20 and younger lost $210 million.
"They are being taken advantage of, and the dollar amounts can be equal to or even higher than what we see in the older population," said Dilworth.
The most common scams targeting young people include promises to make you a social media influencer, online gaming, and even sextortion.
Streetsboro teenager James Woods took his own life after he fell victim to a sextortion scheme.
Retired FBI agent and security consultant David Morgan warns new apps are making it easy to create fake nude images of anyone.
"These apps were created for the fashion industry, so they do a really good job at taking clothes off of normal pictures," said Morgan.
Younger people are also being targeted with fake employment opportunities, according to the BBB.
The agency recommends researching a company before responding to an online job posting. If the company's email or website has a lot of typos, it's likely fake.
