These are the riskiest scams reported in 2023: Lower Mainland BBB report

Schemes involving fake investment opportunities topped the Lower Mainland Better Business Bureau's list of riskiest scams for 2023.

The BBB released its 2023 report on risky scams Monday, saying more than 80 per cent of people who were targeted with an investment scam reported losing money.

BBB president Simone Lis told CTV Morning Live that, new this year, investment and cryptocurrency scams were combined in the annual report.

"The reason we did that is because most cryptocurrency scams that we're being presented with had a component of investment with them," she explained.

Lis said the risk report doesn't just look at the number of reports made, but how susceptible people are to a scam and monetary loss. Investment scams, the BBB says, had the highest median dollar loss last year at $9,365.

The second riskiest scam of 2023 was about employment opportunities.

"They are one of the most reported scams that we see," Lis said, adding scammers can sometimes go to great lengths to make the process seem legitimate, even by conducting job interviews.

Romance scams were new to the top 10 list and took the sixth spot. Tech support scams also emerged in the last spot on the list.

"What is new is tech support scams where you get a pop up on your computer or a phone call to tell you that something's wrong with your computer," Lis explained. "There's nothing wrong with your computer, they take hostage of computer, before you know it you're paying a fee to get them out of there."

Lis said it's important for people to slow down and not make any quick decisions when presented with an unexpected opportunity.

"We know overall that scams are underreported," Lis said. "Take five minutes. If it's unsolicited, if you didn't plan for this person to connect with you, then take the five minutes to do your research. We know that if you do that, that is one really great way of stopping yourself from being a scam victim."