Service members, military spouses, and veterans all reported higher likelihoods of losing money and higher median dollar losses to scammers, according to the latest BBB Scam Tracker Risk Report. Veterans reported a median loss of $133, military spouses reported a median $132 loss, and active duty service members reported a median loss of $269 – all of which were higher than the $115 median loss reported across all consumers in 2020.
Published by the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust (BBB Institute), the study analyzes scams reported to BBB Scam TrackerSM, spotlighting the latest fraud risks facing consumers.
“Historically, we’ve seen higher median losses reported by the military community,” says Melissa Trumpower, BBB Institute Executive Director. “2020 was the first year, however, that we also saw higher rates of military consumers losing money to fraudsters.”
The likelihood of loss reported across all consumers was 46.4% in 2020. Veterans reported a slightly higher likelihood of loss at 46.8%. Military families reported the highest likelihoods of loss at 50.8% for military spouses and 59.7% for service members.
“The biggest factor contributing to these higher likelihoods of loss across the board was the increase of online purchase scams and scams perpetrated online in general,” says Trumpower. “Considering most people made online purchases more often than they normally would in 2020, this was an expected shift that is nonetheless alarming. In a BBB survey of over 5,000 individuals that reported scams to BBB Scam TrackerSM in 2020, 43.1% said they spent more time online due to the pandemic, and 57.1% said they made more purchases online because of the pandemic.”
Online purchase scams were the riskiest scam type for service members and veterans, with the riskiest type of item purchased online being pets and pet supplies. The riskiest scam for military spouses in 2020 was employment scams. This included flexible, work-from-home opportunities found online that often involved fake check or reshipment scams.
“We continue to work with our partners to combat scams that target the military and share prevention messaging through BBBs serving communities throughout North America,” Trumpower said.