Updated 16 March 2022
2min read
Scams are on the rise but new research commissioned by unbiased.co.uk reveals that pensioners are more scam savvy than teenagers.
In fact 66% of teens and young people have admitted to falling for scams, as opposed to 25% of those aged 60+ – and a quarter of teens said that this happened more than once.
However, it’s not surprising as our research also found that 52% of 16-29 year olds admit to using the same password across all devices, compared to 24% of those aged 60+.
What about celebrity backed scams?
Worryingly, the rise of scams also includes a growing number of online promotions and endorsements from celebrities, which are simply not true.
Not only does this take advantage of household names, it compromises the trust of people who have no reason to think that scammers may use celebrities maliciously.
Unbiased stands by Martin Lewis whose inclusion of celebrity fronted scams in the online safety bill is a significant win for best practice in the financial services industry.
When it comes to online celebrity endorsements, over half of Britons (51%) would assume the product or service was safe to buy and certainly not a scam. Of this statistic, 60% of 16-29 year olds would trust a celebrity fronted advert, whilst only 15% of aged 60+ Brits would.
Are we reporting scams?
Fortunately, 90% of us would report a scam, though only 17% to the FCA. Yet of those who wouldn’t, 29%…
