Consumer Research

The annual report analyzes the data that individuals and businesses submit to BBB Scam Tracker℠ (BBB.org/ScamTracker) as a way to shed light on how scams are perpetrated, who is being targeted, which scams have the greatest impact, and behaviors and factors that may impact a person’s susceptibility

To better understand how online purchase scams were being perpetrated in the marketplace this report will focus on all scam types that are perpetrated online and provide new information about which tactics have the biggest impact on consumers and to identify new information that can help consumers protect themselves from online fraud. This report also spotlights some of the most common scam tactics used to target consumers online.

This paper covers what researchers learned from in-depth, in-person interviews with 17 people who recounted their experiences with fraud attempts.  This paper describes how mental frames may have made some interviewees more susceptible to fraud. It also describes how mental frames are constructed from what we learn, both in school and in social experiences. Implications for consumer education and prevention programs are also discussed.

Victimization by scams and fraud depends, in part, on two-way engagement between the target of the scam and the fraudster. In this survey of 1,408 Americans and Canadians who were targeted and reported a scam, nearly half (47 percent) did not engage with the fraudster and so were not victimized. Thirty percent engaged but did not lose money, yet 23 percent engaged and ultimately lost money. The type of scam and the method by which the respondents were exposed to the offer were highly associated with engaging and losing money