Canadians fell for more home improvement scams in 2022, new report finds
A brand new report from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) says the riskiest frauds in Canada are house enchancment scams and cryptocurrency scams, adopted by advance charge mortgage scams.
The group, which advocates for training to guard customers, says house enchancment scams had been the riskiest in 2022, up from the fourth-riskiest rating in 2021.
According to the report revealed March 6, 1,291 scams had been reported by Canadian customers to the BBB Scam Tracker in 2022. The general median greenback loss reported was $300, a 20-per-cent enhance from the 2021 median greenback lack of $250.
More folks had been being focused by web sites, social media and electronic mail in 2022, however in-person contact scams resulted within the highest amount of cash misplaced, the report discovered.
BBB assigns a danger index rating to scams based mostly on the publicity (quantity of reviews), the susceptibility (per cent of those that misplaced cash) and the financial loss. The larger the general danger rating the extra riskier the rip-off is for the general public.
Home enchancment scams, the place perpetrators fake to be knowledgeable within the sector, resulted in a median lack of $1,900 for Canadians. BBB offers this rip-off a susceptibility rating of 78.8 per cent and an general danger rating of 307.6. The scams with the very best danger scores are then ranked by BBB from riskiest to much less dangerous.
Cryptocurrency scams had been second on the BBB listing, with a median lack of $2,000. The danger rating was 190.2 and the susceptibility rating is 62.7 per cent.
Advance charge mortgage scams had a susceptibility rating of 59.1 per cent and a danger rating of 185.6, in keeping with the BBB tracker. The median loss for the rip-off was $1,388.
The riskiest scams in Canada in keeping with the Better Business Bureau. (Screenshot from report)
Different scams are focused at sure demographics, the report explains.
“The percentage of Canadians who reported losing money after being targeted by a scam (susceptibility) increased for several age groups,” the BBB report reads. “In 2022, ages 35-44 reported higher susceptibility (57.2 per cent) than other age groups.”
Those aged 35 to 44 had a median greenback lack of $500 in 2022, larger than some other age group.
Combining all information from the BBB report, these aged 18 to 34 had been extra more likely to fall for employment scams.
Online procuring scams tended to be riskiest for folks aged 35 to 64 and residential enchancment scams had been the riskiest for these aged 65 and older.
According to the entire report utilizing information from the U.S. and Canada, the businesses more than likely to be impersonated by fraudsters, in keeping with BBB, had been Amazon, Geek Squad, Publishers Clearing House, the U.S. Postal Service and Norton.
Employment and on-line procuring scams had been deemed riskiest general, based mostly on all the information.
“Employment scams, which peaked at #1 on our list in 2019, are seeing a resurgence,” Melissa Lanning Trumpower, executive director of the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust, said in the press release. “This is a high-touch scam in which perpetrators spend more time with their targets in the hope of stealing more money from each target.
The report says that, overall, cryptocurrency scams dropped in 2022 from the second spot to third, due to a decrease in people reporting the scam type. One reason for the drop is that fewer people fell for cryptocurrency scams resulting in less median dollars lost overall.
SCAM PREVENTION TIPS FROM BBB
For home improvement scams, BBB recommends saying no to cash-only deals and anyone with “strain gross sales ways.” The organization says high upfront payments and “handshake offers” are signs of a potential home improvement scam.
“Whenever potential, work with companies which have correct identification, licensing, and insurance coverage,” the BBB report reads.
Asking for references and getting quotes from other businesses is encouraged by BBB before hiring someone to work on a home.
With more perpetrators using social media and the internet to scam, BBB says to be “extraordinarily cautious when coping with anybody you’ve got met on-line.”
Never send money to someone without meeting face-to-face and be aware of oversharing on social media, the company says.
“Don’t click on on hyperlinks or open attachments in unsolicited electronic mail or textual content messages,” the BBB report says.
