Common Financial Scams + How To Avoid Them

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Financial scams are everywhere. From bogus investment schemes to gift card scams, there are plenty of ways for fraudsters to separate you from your hard-earned cash.

While you may be familiar with some of the common scams that result in people becoming victims of financial fraud, criminals are devising new ways to steal your money and Personal Identifiable Information (PII) every day.

Maybe you think you’d never fall for an online scam and that you’d always recognize a fraudulent email or text. But we’d urge you to think again.

Billions of dollars are stolen from people in financial scams and identity theft fraud each year. And scam artists aren’t just targeting older adults and their Social Security checks.

In reports to the Federal Trade Commission in 2020, people in the 20–29 age group reported losing money to fraud (44%) at more than double the rate (20%) of 70–79 year-olds.

The bottom line…people of all ages can fall for a fraudulent financial scheme, no matter how much they know about money or technology or how hard they try to prevent becoming a victim.