Scammers use Demographics to Target Victims
PYMNTS | Finding victims isn’t random luck on the part of scammers. They use data to align messages with a target’s age, income, and habits, then pick the contact channel where the person will most likely respond.
A new PYMNTS Intelligence study, “How Scammers Tailor Financial Scams to Individual Consumer Vulnerabilities,” argues that mass personalization has become the defining feature of modern fraud.
For example, the study found that:
Early‑career consumers encounter more employment scams, while Gen Z victims were more likely to be hit by job‑listing schemes.
Older consumers were more likely to be targeted by fake e-commerce offers. In particular, sweepstakes scams skew toward seniors who may feel financially insecure.
Investment scams cluster around higher‑income households, while government‑benefit scams appear target lower‑income consumers.
Based on a survey of 10,103 U.S. consumers fielded in 2024, the study found that 3 in 10 adults — roughly 77 million people — had lost money to scams in the past five years, with many losing more than 500.
Full article: Scams Now Make Up 27% of US Banks’ Fraud Losses