Older Utahns are highly visible scam targets, but scammers don’t care whether you’re old or young.
“We see it with seniors. See it with millennials. See it with college students,” said Melani Fox of the Better Business Bureau Mountain West. “You know, we see it everywhere.”
The bureau’s 2024 Scam Tracker Risk Report found that 18 to 24-year-olds are slightly more likely to lose money if they’re scammed than seniors over 65. And young people report nearly the same median loss in scams as seniors.
What these scams have in common is that they play on emotions, and Fox said students are vulnerable in unique ways.
“They’re at a point in life where, you know, you're not as established with your career, with your finances,” she said. “So they’re trying to find a deal.”
For college-age students, those “too good to be true” promises can come in the form of things like apartments, fake credit cards, scholarships and grants, testing prep and online shopping.
But the riskiest scams for 18 to 34-year-olds are fake job offers.
Fox said it might be easy to spot a promise of a million dollars as a scam.
“If they see a listing on Indeed, and it's like, for a job, and it sounds really legitimate, they may not have a second thought.”
It’s especially true for online jobs when remote work offers convenience and flexibility.
“If anyone ever asks you to pay money to apply, or money for equipment … maybe it's offering higher pay than you really think you're qualified for, or there's really no interview process,” that’s when you have to be careful, she said.
And while universities offer ways to easily report phishing email scams, they are especially concerned for international students who are far from home and whose English language skills may make it harder to catch subtle clues that an offer is fake.
The homepage for International Student & Scholarship Services at Brigham Young University puts the words right up top in a large red box: “BEWARE OF SCAMS!” And it warns that they are on the rise.
International students are often simply afraid, said Nanette Arredondo, an office manager in the international student office. They’re targeted by scammers claiming to be from immigration enforcement or Homeland Security who demand personal information or immediate payment under threat of deportation.
“They're willing to try to do what they can to protect their status, to make sure that they can stay safe here in the United States and continue their education.”
International students are also lured with offers of fake jobs, just like their American counterparts. Arredondo recalled one student who was offered a “modeling” job. Scammers encouraged her to send photos — including poses in a bathing suit. And that became fodder for blackmail.
“They turned around and used those photos and said, ‘Hey, now that we have these, we're going to post them online without your permission,’” she said.
The biggest risk for international students in these situations is losing the money that allows them to stay in the country and attend university.
For any student, international or not, the advice is similar: be skeptical.
“Before you click on a link, before you respond to an ad, or anything where someone is reaching out and contacting you, just really looking into it,” said the Better Business Bureau’s Fox.
She advises doing a Google search, checking reviews, and, in the case of imposter fraud, verifying the source of an email by calling the company.
“And sometimes it's just going to happen — inevitably. It's not your fault,” Fox said.
