4-02-2025 9:30pm

Shattered Dreams: Families Crushed by Fraud

Photo via pexels.com

MAINEVILLE, OH -- Cybercrime is the costliest fraud in America reaching an estimated $452.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2024; cybercrime is estimated to cost the world $10.5 trillion annually by 2025.

According to a report by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) dated April 2024, American adults incurred scanning losses amounting to $43 billion due to identity fraud in 2023, impacting 15 million individuals. In 2022, 15.4 million American adults were scammed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports that scams targeting the elderly American are on the rise. Overall, cyber incidents reported to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) in 2023 totaled 880,418. These attacks caused a five-year high of $12.5 billion in losses, with investment scams making up $4.57 billion, the most for any cybercrime tracked.

In the last five years, people under the age of 20 have had the largest percentage increase of money lost to scams than any other group. This population is familiar with technology, and they can be overconfident about their level of risk. Young teens and adults use social media, shop online, and game with worldwide players, all of which multiplies their vulnerabilities. Their constant online access to phones, tablets, computers, and gaming equipment (PlayStation, Xbox, PCs, mobile devices, and specialized equipment) make them at high risk for online scams. The more time spent online, the greater the exposure to potential risks. In a study reported by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), nearly 40 percent of fraud loss in 2021 that was reported by those aged 18 – 29 originated on social media.

Cybercriminals use your technical devices as a tool, committing money-making swindles, enabled by your highly coveted, private and personal technical devices. The outdated land-line telephones sitting quietly in the corner of the parlor are not excluded from scammers; remember that you are listed by name and address in a telephone book, the “Rosetta Stone” for criminals looking for names, addresses, pictures, businesses, and everything is in alphabetical order, the encyclopedia for fresh targets.

How do “We the People” stay safe from cyber theft?

Protect Yourself:

Update your device operating software.
Be aware. Scammers can hack into your phone.
Be aware. Scammers can turn on your device without you knowing it.
Suspicious. Put tape over cell phone camera lens and other devices: television, tablets and computers.
Activate ad blockers on all devices: computers, tablets, telephones.
Scammers can hack phones and computers to steal your photographs.
Lock credit and debit cards. Coordinate this with banking institutions.
Automatic payment - communicate with banking institutions.
Promptly report lost credit cards or compromised cards.
Contact law enforcement (LE) when scammers have contacted you. Provide specifics to LE about scammers; all you recall. Scammers are domestic and foreign.
Use separate, stand-alone computers for financial work with banks, credits, medical institutions, pharmacies, and insurance companies that have your personal data.
Shopping online, using a separate computer or device (cell phone tablet, or other). Use an encrypted pay system such as PayPal.
Use VPN (Virtual Private Network) located in the USA. The VPN service provides a secure encrypted connection over the internet.
Use an ID Theft System, like LifeLock.
Continue to be AWARE of potential scamming activities that affect your financial security.

Password Security:

Consider using Password Manager (PM) software on a computer; PM Software creates an encrypted password each time you use it, no two are alike.
Establish a MASTER password in the form of a sentence, with all the space between words, upper-and lower-case lettering, and numbers along with special characters. This can be used with the Password Manager System. Use 2-factor authentication.