KANSAS CITY, Kan. – After learning that his grandmother had been a victim of a scam, a middle school student in Nebraska made a flyer to warn older people about scams. Parker Cosimano from Omaha began putting up the scam warning flyers at senior centers by walking there.
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) helped him take Cosimano’s “A Senior’s Guide to Scam Prevention” to the next level by putting the sign in all of Nebraska’s senior centers. Now, they want to help seniors in Kansas by getting the poster to those adults in the Sunflower State.
Josh Planos, Communications Director for the Better Business Bureau, said, “He wanted to make it easier for people to report their experience.” “That’s where the QR code at the bottom of the flyer comes in handy—it makes it easy for people to report everything.”
The Better Business Bureau (BBB) says that scams involving seniors bring in billions of dollars for thieves every year.
The 2023 BBB Scam Tracker Risk Report for Older Adults
The median dollar loss for people aged 65 and up was $109, which was higher than the general median dollar loss. However, they were less likely to report losing money when targeted by a scam than consumers overall.
People over 65 were more likely to say they were attacked on social media in 2023 than the year before. When asked by phone or through online ads, people in this age group were more likely than people in other age groups to say they had lost money.
People aged 65 and up were more likely than people of other ages to say they paid scammers with a credit card, a prepaid or gift card, or a check.