27 Million Americans Fell For Phone Scams In 2015
Phone scams are continuing to increase, and the victims are not always the stereotypical elderly Americans. These are a few of the insights of a recently released survey performed on behalf of Truecaller.
In 2015, approximately 27 million Americans (11% of the adult population) were victimized by phone scams, compared to only 7% in a similar 2014 survey. Total 2015 losses to phone scams was $7.4 billion, or an average loss of nearly $274 per victim. Scams are trending in three alliterative aspects: mobile devices, men, and millennials.
As mobile phone use rapidly expands, so does the occurrence of mobile phone scams through unsolicited calls or texts. 74% of the 2015 phone scam victims reported that the incidence took place on their mobile device, compared to 49% in the 2014 survey. The amount of scam calls to landlines remained fairly consistent each year.
Millennials and men were the favorite targets of scammers. Men were almost twice as likely to fal…
