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When it comes to the consumers who are more likely to be scammed in the market today, according to a study by the <b>Better Business Bureau</b>, it's the millennials over any others. They suggest that millennials are *just as much of a target* as any other consumer out there, if not more, as there are a great deal of people *both young and old* get scammed out of <b>millions of dollars every year</b>. 

Many Americans have collectively lost millions of dollars to catfishing scams and a variety of other fraudulent operations over the years. In Wisconsin, state legislators there think that the solution rests in trying to pass a bill that will make it illegal to impersonate someone online--<b>in certain circumstances</b>.

In the bill that they've recently introduced, they suggest that if someone does engage in this behavior, trying to reel victims in under false identities, that they should be subject to a $1,000 fine and perhaps *90 days in jail*.

As for what they will consider to be *impersonation of someone else*, they've narrowed it down to the actions of using the name of someone else, their <b>photo, their signature, voice or likeness</b>. As well, it would be required for the victim to <b>reasonably believe</b> that the imposter is the person who they say that they are. 

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According to estimates by the FBI, victims of <b>romance scams</b> in the US alone have already been conned out of <b>$200 million</b> in the last few years. Many people might assume that it could never happen to them, though according to the study by the BBB, there are a great deal of us who are susceptible. 

### Roughly <b>1 in 4 households</b> in North America will be targeted *every year*. 
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For the participants who reported having been scammed to the BBB, roughly 89 percent of the seniors responded in saying that they recognized that it was a scam before it was too late. For millennials though that number was much smaller, for those respondents it was roughly 3x as many who failed to recognize that it was a scam before it was too late.

Industry experts suggest that consumers can try to protect themselves by taking the time and effort to look for warning signs that might be out there. They offer tips like double checking to make sure that the website is legitimate, not to open suspicious e-mails, looking for spelling errors and inconsistencies in the “official” communication documents and on the site, meet someone in person before sending money to them, and so on.


Pics:
Pixabay

Source:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/leemathews/2017/05/05/phishing-scams-cost-american-businesses-half-a-billion-dollars-a-year/#1ebe469d3fa1
http://www.cbs46.com/story/34956721/bbb-millennials-most-likely-to-be-scammed
http://wivb.com/2017/11/19/new-study-millennial-shoppers-most-vulnerable-to-scams/
http://www.wbaltv.com/article/bbb-warns-of-scammers-using-job-search-websites/12813526
https://www.bbb.org/2016scamriskreport/
http://www.kvrr.com/2017/10/13/bbb-advises-how-to-avoid-becoming-a-victim-of-cyber-attacks/
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/state-legislators-look-to-reel-in-harmful-online-catfishing-scams/article_2df9556f-acd2-53c1-b32b-296690d2592b.html
https://www.clickorlando.com/news/investigators/catfish-scam-targeting-central-floridians
http://foxsanantonio.com/news/local/dont-get-hooked-by-a-catfish-scam