Email, phone scams are on the rise; younger people falling victim

It is not your imagination, fraudulent texts, email and phone messages are on the rise across Canada, confirmed the Better Business Bureau.

When scammesr send out messages pretending to be something they’re not, like a bank, police officer or delivery service, it’s called an “impersonation scam.”

Simone Lis, president of the Better Business Bureau of Mainland BC, says the more scams there are, the more people are vulnerable.

“There’s not only a rise to the number of scams we are seeing, but also the number of people who have lost money to these kinds of scams,” said

These deceitful email and text messages are so prevalent because they are very easy to execute. With one click of a button the crooks are able to send these kinds of messages to hundreds of people.

For example, only hours after the B.C. government announced drivers would be getting a fuel rebate, people began receiving bogus texts promising quick payment from an auto insurer -- if they clicked a link.

“Scammers are in a sense a business, so they are paying attention to the news and this yields opportunity for them,” said Lis.

Historically seniors are the biggest scam victims, but younger people aged 25 to 34 years old are now losing the most money, according to Lis.

One explanation for why this change in demographics is underway -- younger people are online more often, and they want to get things done quickly. So, they may respond without thinking things through first.

“Nobody should be embarrassed to fall prey to a scam, it happens to everybody. There is a scam for everybody,” assured Lis.

She advised not responding right away to suspect messages. This will allow people time to do research, and to ask others for advice.

Lis says that anyone who happens to be scammed can help prevent others from falling victim by reporting it.