Millennials More Likely To Fall For Scams Than Baby Boomers (washingtonexaminer.com)

A new report from the Better Business Bureau suggests that millennials are now more likely to fall victim to a scam than Baby Boomers. Washington Examiner reports: The Better Business Bureau reports that 69 percent of scam victims are under the age of 45. Young adults heading off to college are especially gullible, the group says. "College students can be easy targets for scammers and identity thieves. They are old enough to have money, young enough to be vulnerable and are likely unsupervised as many are away from home for the first time," writes Heather Massey of the Better Business Bureau. Phishing scams now target cell phones as well as email and social media.

"Millennials spend a lot of time on Facebook or other social media sites, where they can target them with these messages," said Jim Hegarty, Better Business Bureau president and CEO. College students also use sensitive information frequently, like student IDs, Social Security numbers, and banking information.

Comments

A trusting bunch

[plopez]

Sheep to the slaughter.

Re:A trusting bunch

[ShanghaiBill]

There is nothing new about this. I was in Berkeley in the early 1980s, back when the new freshmen were still boomers. In September, the panhandlers and scammers would be lined up along Telegraph Avenue. By October, the students would be jaded and cynical.

Re:A trusting bunch

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, there was the recent /. article about the younger generation thinking socialism was a good idea so the millennials could genuinely be naive, gullible fools.

It is more likely that their idea of what socialism is is way different from your idea of it.
Many socialist proponents look and the Scandinavian countries as a template while you probably look at Maoism or something similar.
Now you probably think "what they have in Scandinavia isn't socialism" but that is just you have to remember that according to the American conservatives anyone who wants to fund schools or healthcare is a socialist.

If you make sure to use the same definition of socialism all the time you will either find that you have plenty of examples of where socialism works better than the current US system or you will find that there aren't actually a lot of people supporting socialism.
If you change definition depending on your agenda, well of course things will look inconsistent.

Re:A trusting bunch

[Daralantan]

I've heard a swede say he would rather not work

Randomly reminds me of when a friend of mine worked for Electrolux. He went to a new international center they were building over there to do some kind of engineering. He had a friend over there that quit the engineering job because "I'd rather be a bus driver, it's easier and I'd rather think less."

Not really related to your statement, just something I always found funny.

Re:A trusting bunch

[AmiMoJo]

Anecdotes aside Sweden consistently comes near the top for things like quality of life, education, healthcare, crime etc.

I'd imagine that if your friend had to live in, say, the UK long term they would realize how good Sweden has it.

Re:A trusting bunch

[Kiuas]

What once made Sweden great and wealthy was proper incentives for economic productivity and high trust between people. '

Bullshit.

The Nordic countries are all very wealthy (in the 25 in purchasing power adjusted GDP per capita, Sweden is 16th 5 places behind the US and one of the highest in Europe, and Norway is actually ahead of the US) and productive (with the exception of Iceland, all in the top 13 in terms of GDP per hours worked., with Denmark being pretty much equal to the US and Norway again being ahead of the US).

Then the socialists took over and for a while restrained themselves in milking the productive portion of the population dry.

Erm what? You do realize the exact opposite is true? Finland became independent after first 800 years of rule under the Swedish kingdom and then another 100+ years as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire in 1917 (we kinda slipped loose after the revolution happened, and had our own civil war in 1918 during which the communists that wanted us to join the then still emerging soviet union lost). A 100 years ago we were one of the poorest countries in Europe, with low overall education and literacy rates and a massive issue with poverty. We started the slow climb up and then the 2nd world war came. After the war and the rebuilding effort the foundations of the modern democratic socialism that combines a market economy with progressive taxation were laid out, copied from Sweden in large parts due to their successes there. The schools system was rehauled and unified, universities are tuition free, tax-funded health care etc. All of these are things that are now in our constitution. And what has happened? As already showcased we sprinted forwards to be among the top economies of Europe. Now does that mean that there are no issues and this is a perfect Utopia? No, absolutely not. The '08 crisis hit us here in Finland extremely hard because it also happened to coincide with the implosion of Nokia which was like almost a third of our export sector that basically disappeared, and we've spent the last decade recovering from that, and that's still an ongoing process, partially hampered by the fact that the current center-right (in Finnish terms, even the rightmost party here is to the left of the democratic mainstream in the US in their support for the existing universal systems) hasn't been very effective in tackling some of the structural issues, but nevertheless, we're still doing very well.

But to say that the socialists 'ruined everything' is just utter BS. Without the social policies that we've put in place, we'd likely still be a very backwater nation instead of a global first world economy,

Now the situation is so bad that I've heard a swede say he would rather not work because that would give tax money to his government that is ruining everything!

Oh so you heard 1 Swede say that did you? Well that proves the whole system is ruined then doesn't it? C'mon man.

Sweden took in a lot of refugees, way more than any other compared to the size of the population and that has obviously become a heated issue, as they have had problems with their immigration system previously as well. This has been made worse by the fact that Sweden changed its elementary school system away from the model they used to have (and that we still use) and allowed the creaton of privatized elementary schools, which has lead in parts of the large suburbs to rapid segregation creating schools for well-off natives and left the public schools in those areas to be heavily for immigrants. This obviously creates problems as it hampers those kids from learning the language for example, making integration and thus employment harder which creates a host of issues, the most prevalent of which is the rise of organized crime in those suburban are

They're not more likely to fall for scams

[rsilvergun]

It's right there in TFS. They use the internet more and so the ones likely to fall for scams are easier to reach. It's harder to get to boomers since they're not very connected. This'll change out to older folks getting scammed more once the generation that grew up with the Internet ages a bit.

Re:They're not more likely to fall for scams

[jpaine619]

coddle
v. To cook in water just below the boiling point: coddle eggs.
v. To treat indulgently; baby.

I don't think you meant "cuddled"

Sheltered

[MikeRT]

Millennials are also the first generation where bullshit like "I should be able to walk down the street naked and have nothing happen to me" is considered neither a joke nor a statement of "why yes, I am bat shit crazy, just wanted to get that out there while breaking the ice." Or girls just leaving their apartments unlocked and then wondering why they had problems with creeps.

I'm an older Millennial, and I grew up in smaller towns in the South. When I went to college, I actually heard garbage like that from other Millennials. Coming from a law enforcement family in small southern towns, I was stunned at how so many of the middle and upper class Millennials acted like they were born last night in a cabbage patch.

I mean, fuck me, if I had said "I should be able to walk anywhere at 2AM covered in bling and not be hurt" my dad would have looked outside and said "oh I'm sorry, did I miss the news cast where Jesus returned in triumph and put all of the evil in the world into Hell? No? Then use your damn head."

Re:Sheltered

[jwhyche]

This is something that I have also observed with a lot of millennials. Most of them have the works they way they think it should, and now how it actually works. In the ideal millennial world you should be able to walk down the street naked at 2 am. They just don't take in to account there are fucking evil people out there that will happily take advantage of them.

It is not that millennials are stupid, it just they are not getting the same life experiences any more that most of us non-milennials got.

Re:Sheltered

[Actually, I do RTFA]

You should be able to leave your apartment unlocked/walk down the street naked and not have an issue. You of course won't. But that doesn't excuse the actual people who take advantage of them.

And, year-by-year, we get closer to that ideal world. So, you know, it's improving.

Re:Sheltered

[AmiMoJo]

The same is said of every generation. Were hippies and flower power any less ridiculed?

Young people, by virtue of having been alive for less time, are less experienced. Some would say less cynical and worn down. It will always be that way.

Re:Sheltered

[scamper_22]

Hopefully this conversation stays in these bounds. But I really like how Jordan Peterson puts it in his Maps of Meaning Havard lectures. I'll paraphrase it.

"Your culture protects you and allows you to operate within those bounds. Remove the protections of that culture, and you don't know who you'd be"

I grew up in Africa. I'm of Indian background. Life was far more dangerous. I wasn't protected. I did ignore/not help someone who looked injured on the side of the road. It could be a scam to rob/hurt me. I did avoid certain people/areas about of pure fear of what can happen. Mainly because I personally knew people who had really bad things happen to them... and had some happen to me. I obeyed a lot of rules to keep my self safe... never wear jewelry in public. Don't display any sign of wealth...

I now live in Canada with ample protection. To the point where here, I'm seen as the altruistic brave person. I was on the subway a while back and a thuggish person had fallen asleep/or drunk at the end of the line. Everyone was too scared to wake him up. To me, it was just easy. I had literally no fear of this 'Canadian thug'. I woke em up, got thanked by the other people on the subway...

The point here is not to pump me up, but to put it in perspective. These people who had so much fear, they couldn't wake up a sleeping thug on the subway in Toronto were really no different than me back in Africa. It's just a matter of perspective. I had seen 'real' danger and 'real' random violence. I am not risking that. For whatever reason, the culture in Canada has largely protected me. I don't really have that random violence fear. Canada is not utopia people, violence and gangs and murders happen here, but generally if you mind your business, people don't bother you. At least that is how I've felt in Canadian culture. It never crossed my mind once that the sleeping thug would have any reason to attack me.

On the one hand, these millennials seem naive. They've been raised in a culture that tells them what their rights are and about the goodness of people. By in large you can go through the first 25 years of life living very well protected by that culture. You'll probably get to see more goodness in people than I would. Take a step back for a second. Why should they not expect to walk down the street naked at 3 am? Because danger you say? Any less danger than me just walking down the street. Because when I was an Africa I literally had the fear just walking down various street in places I had to go. Yet, we've managed to create a culture in North America where in general, you can walk around without general fear.

Why can't we create a culture where it is safe to walk around naked at 3 am in general?

I of course have my doubts and my mind is much more like yours in terms of safety, but I also can't help but see so much of it is just culture. I can tell you for sure that the millennial guys for example are much kinder and more tame than the guys when I went to school with and much much much more tame than the guys in Africa. I've never been to Sweden so maybe this is a gross naive stereotype, but let's imagine sweden without immigration for a second. Everyone there educated and protected by Swedish culture for generations. Would you think it strange to think a Swedish person could walk out at 3 am naked and have the general expectation to be safe? Doesn't sound unreasonable to me.

Of course this leads to a huge mismatch if you ever encounter people outside the protected millennial culture, but it is interesting nonetheless. But I see that as far less a problem, given we all take the protection of our culture for granted. We all appear from the cabbage patch from a different perspective.

Re:Sheltered

[h4x0t]

You folks need to understand what the word 'should' means.
Just because one says they should be able to do something (given a series of ideals), does not fucking mean they do it daily and fail to understand the consequences or drivers.

Re:Sheltered

[Actually, I do RTFA]

Alternatively, it could be a post-scarcity world, it's a world with little enough crime that cops can solve crimes after the fact with forensic evidence, it's a world where drug-addicts get treatment and don't need to steal to fuel their addiction, it's a world where everyone has a good job. Look, there are always some dipshits, but most crime is desperation. If we can remove that, we remove a lot of crime. If we remove enough crime, cops can start solving burglaries.

Re:Sheltered

[jwhyche]

The same is said of every generation. Were hippies and flower power any less ridiculed? Young people, by virtue of having been alive for less time, are less experienced. Some would say less cynical and worn down. It will always be that way.

Not like this generation. Hippies, despite all the shit I give them, had enough basic life skills when they started out. When I came out of high school, at the age of 18, I knew how to create a budget, balance a checkbook, type, cook a basic meal, buy and maintain a car, look for, apply for, and get a job. Any many other basic skills.

I've met Millennials, in college, that can't even do basic math with out a calculator. I'm not talking algebra here, but addition and subtraction. Some of them are almost hopeless. I can't get my daughters husband to even consider making a budget, much less managing his money correctly. They are amazed that I can look down a receipt and add up all the totals on it in my head.

Most of the hippies that I know at that time where inclined to learn. This generation doesn't seem to be inclined to do even that. They are not stupid, they just seem to be, I don't really know what to call it.

Re:Sheltered

[jeff4747]

Not like this generation. Hippies, despite all the shit I give them, had enough basic life skills when they started out. When I came out of high school, at the age of 18, I knew how to create a budget, balance a checkbook, type, cook a basic meal, buy and maintain a car, look for, apply for, and get a job. Any many other basic skills.

And then your generation voted to gut school funding and tie it to standardized tests that do not involve any "basic life skills". And you are apparently surprised by the results of your votes.

Re:Sheltered

[jwhyche]

Not exactly surprised. I remember when we started down this path when I was first enrolling my kids in school. I looked over the curriculum and recall that I didn't see any of the stuff I had in school. I seem to recall teachers saying that the new stuff would lead to a generation not being prepared.

Of course this didn't stop Bush Beta and his band of merry idiots from rubber stamping it. Then it got worse under Obama. Now we have a willy wonka escapee at the helm and I don't see anything getting better. I do think Trump is doing good job in some areas but the areas he is failing in he seems to be doing in style.

"Young adults heading off to college"

[Kargan]

...are not millennials.

They are Generation Z-ers.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/0...

Lack of critical thinking

[Spy Handler]

no surprise, given how public schools these days do little besides indoctrinate kids in leftist ideology. Chairman Mao would feel right at home.

Re:Lack of critical thinking

[jpaine619]

He's absolutely right though.. There is indoctrination happening... When I was much younger, there was NOT this level of politics in school.. I couldn't tell you if a given teacher was a Democrat or a Republican or a fucking Communist because they didn't tell you, they didn't push an ideology... They taught you how to read, write, and do 'rythmatic..

At best you could make an educated guess from how they dressed (business like or hippy) but that was about it..

Now? Yeah, it's way different..

Re:Lack of critical thinking

[AmiMoJo]

When I was at school there was plenty of indoctrination. Mainly religious, so I guess things have changed a little.

Re:Lack of critical thinking

[houghi]

The thing is that lack of critical think has absolutely nothing to do with left or right. There are plenty of excamples where the left does not think and people are indoctrinated. There are equally plenty of indoctrinated kids to the right.

No only Chairman Mao would be proud, Adolf Hitler would be as well. Just as plenty other "leaders".

Re:Lack of critical thinking

[Opportunist]

Leftist ideology? Is that why bullshit like "creationism" is getting pushed into schoolbooks these days?

WTF?!?!?

[sootman]

Seriously? Comparing millennials (born mid-80s to early-90s, currently around 20-30 years old) to boomers (born mid-40s to ~1960, currently in their 60s and 70s)? They're more likely to fall for scams BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNGER AND HAVE LESS EXPERIENCE. There may be more vectors for them to be scammed these days, but I don't think they're any more or less gullible than boomers were *at that same age*.

Also, didn't slashdot used to warn us about (or better yet, not link to) sites with autoplaying video?

Re:WTF?!?!?

[AvitarX]

And a smart person with a bad upbringing will learn to not get scammed because of life.

So for any birth year, the number of people from that birth year that are easy targets declines every year.

Or are saying that every Boomer has an excellent upbringing and none learned from life?

Shouldn't be an issue

[reiterate]

We don't have any money anyway

I've generally heard that in Japan

[rsilvergun]

you could send your daughter down the street naked with a ¥10,000 yen bill taped to her and expect her to be fine. Jokes aside the reason they have so many vending machines is they don't have much vandalism. Europe's generally a lot better than the US in that regard. And people crack jokes about how nice and polite Canada is.

I guess what I'm saying is that the US seems to have a reputation for being a nasty place. That said, crime's been dropping non-stop for decades. What hasn't been dropping is politicians using "tough on crime" rhetoric to get elected while screwing their constituents...

Re:Gen-X are millennials now?

[OrangeTide]

Gen-X here. Nobody ever gave a shit about us, not even other gen-x'ers.

Re:Are you off your meds again?

[jpaine619]

You're right about Mao though. But he was a fascist, not a communist and certainly not a Democratic Socialist.

Fuck yeah! Haven't gotten to see the No-True-Scotsman fallacy in a long time. Thank you! (seriously).

Mao said he was communist, he ran a communist country, his successors are communists.. But no.. he was a fascist, because you know better...

Thanks man.. I really needed that laugh, for real.

Older is wiser? I'm shocked!

[Tony Isaac]

So the school of hard knocks teaches life skills? Wow!

When Baby Boomers were young, they were stupid too.

Re:Older is wiser? I'm shocked!

[jeff4747]

Millennials have been brought up in environments which were overly protective, and that produces people who are weak and lacking in understanding of how the world works.

Psssst.....you made that environment. You were the adults, they were the kids. Participation trophies? You were the parents creating them and handing them out.

So time to actually take responsibility for the world you created and help us clean it up....oh wait, your'e a Boomer. We'll have to clean it up after you die because you can't take responsibility for anything your generation does.

Population Statistics?

[eagle52997]

I find these claims spurious. One need only look at population statistics to see that in 2010 the percentage of the population that was under age 45 was about 66%. https://www.census.gov/prod/ce... Since the boomers have been dying off, that has more than likely approached the 69% figure in the paper over the past 8 years. Nowhere in the article do they reference the current population distribution. So 69% of the population is under 45 and 69% of scam victims are under 45. To me that says you can't use age as a predictor for who is likely to fall for scams.

You know people can lie right?

[rsilvergun]

that Lionel Hutz is not, in fact, a lawyer?

Mao said he was a communist but did not run a communist country. He took complete control and ownership of all property in the country. That's the opposite of communism; where the proles are meant to have ownership and control via a Democratic process.

This was the cause of most of the deaths. Mao insisted they double plant, everybody knew that was a horrifying idea but couldn't override Mao because rather than being a communist country it was a fascist dictatorship. The double planting lead to a horrifically bad harvest and mass starvation. There are other examples of how bad Mao's economic ideas were. Everybody knew they were terrible too, but they were too frightened of Mao to say anything (or if they did they disappeared).

Bottom line: Words have meaning and can be misused for propaganda purposes. To suggest otherwise in the face of such obvious evidence is ignorant at best and dishonest propaganda at worst.