When you think about victims of financial scams, you may tend to believe that they disproportionately affect the elderly. That may not be the case. A recent study by First Orion, a provider of data and phone call transparency solutions headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, indicates that Millennials are most affected by phone scams.
Following a survey of 1,000 mobile phone users in the United States, First Orion found that Millennials are particularly susceptible to phone scams. Millennials were six times more likely than Baby Boomers to disclose personal information over the phone if the caller could verify the last four digits of their Social Security Number (SSN). Phone scammers often use tidbits of personal information that they’ve gleaned from other sources – like stolen data – to try to coax more information out of you. It works: Nearly three times as many Millennials gave away their entire SSN over the phone compared to Gen-X respondents.
Giving out financial information can have serious consequences. According to the survey, millennials experienced the highest rate of financial losses from scam calls, nearly three times more than boomers. Despite those results, millennials were more confident than other generations when it came to determining if an email, text, or phone call was a scam.
So who is likely to be on the end of that scam call? Nearly one-third of respondents claimed to have received an email, text, or phone call from someone impersonating the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). And nearly one-third of respondents also said they would answer a call from someone alleging to be from the IRS calling about their taxes. Remember: The IRS will never initiate contact with taxpayers via email or phone and does not reach out to taxpayers via text.
One of the keys to avoiding scams – especially those from identity thieves purporting to be from the IRS – is to familiarize yourself with basic tax rules. In addition to understanding that IRS will not reach out to you about your taxes, you should understand your filing and payment options. Remarkably, 68% of millennial respondents did not know the correct deadline to file taxes in 2018 (it’s April 17).
The run-up to Tax Day is particularly appealing for scammers because taxpayers may be distracted and tax preparers may be overwhelmed. “Tax season poses an opportune time for sophisticated scammers to disguise their identities and target consumers. In fact, we found nearly one-third of respondents have received a scam call from someone impersonating an IRS agent,” said Scott Ballantyne, Chief Marketing Officer of First Orion.
It’s important, however, to take a step back and ensure that you’re aware of potential traps because the scammers are not slowing down. In 2018, respondents were four times as likely to have received a scam call within the past week compared to the same study from 2015, and over 87 percent of respondents have received a call they believed was a scam. In fact, the IRS named phone scams as one of their “Dirty Dozen” tax scams for 2018.
For more details, check out this infographic prepared by First Orion:
To view a full-size version of the infographic, click here.