Cryptocurrency, employment scams top categories in 2024: report

A new report from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) shows the type of scams Canadians and Americans were most likely to fall victim to in 2024 — and how much they lost.

The ‘Risk Report’ presents data collected from the non-profit’s scam tracker tool for those who have been scammed or have caught a scam.

Neesha Hothi, director of marketing for the BBB servicing mainland B.C., says scams are prevalent in “every area of industry and consumerism” and are moving increasingly online.

“The top riskiest scam affecting Canadian consumers right now is actually investment/cryptocurrency scams,” said Hothi.

The report shows that more than 80 per cent of people who were targeted by scams in the investment/cryptocurrency category lost money — with a $5,000 median loss.

Hothi says that median loss is up, but the prevalence of investment/cryptocurrency is down from last year, when it also held the top spot.

“What that kind of means is that we are starting to catch on sooner and being able to get out of it. However, it’s still very, very likely that people are falling for these scams. It’s an [80.1] per cent susceptibility, which means that those people who are being targeted by the scam, they’re falling for it about [80.1] per cent of the time,” Hothi explained.

Victims are lured in, Hothi says, by the promise of minimal risk and big returns and by high-pressure sales tactics.

“We often say, ‘Take five.’ — And I say to akin that to the size of your investment, if you are buying a $50 shirt, you can take five minutes. Are you making a $50,000 investment? Maybe take five days,” Hothi advised.

She says cryptocurrency scammers often prop up fake platforms that show victims how their believed ‘investment’ is growing.

“They’re controlling the back end, so what they’re showing you isn’t real. So that’s the biggest issue, that you’re getting duped into believing that your money is growing. You’re investing more funds, and you’re realizing far too late that you’ve lost that money.”

The report says the next most common category in 2024 was employment scams, which Hothi explains most affects 18 to 34-year-olds. She says employment scams usually include easy job offers that seem too good to be true, targeting young people in a difficult job market.

In employment scams, she says the victim will commonly be asked to buy equipment from a specific platform, with the promise that their fake employer will cover their expenses in the first paycheque — which never comes, or bounces long after the money is already spent.

The report also shows that romance scams and online purchasing scams are the third and fourth most common categories. It says people older than 65 are most likely to be victims, and nearly 30 per cent of reporting victims said their mental health was impacted by being scammed.

The BBB says scammers were most likely to pose as Publishers Clearing House, the U.S. Postal Service, PayPal, Amazon, or Spectrum.

Hothi says the bureau offers a scam prevention knowledge test and several tips to avoid becoming a victim. Education and verification, she says, is the best way to protect yourself.

“Why do we check our Google Maps or why do we call the radio station when there is an accident on the road? It’s so that the next guy doesn’t have to deal with what you just dealt with. And so the same thing here. My goal is to help you avoid scams. So visit bbb.org/scamtips and learn all about the types of scams that are out there and how to avoid them and catch the red flags.”

—With files from Raynaldo Suarez