SAPULPA, Okla — Loretta lives in Sapulpa. She admits scammers took advantage of her in the past, making it necessary to change her bank accounts. She doesn't want anyone else to experience that inconvenience, not to mention the cash loss, so she contacted 2 News when scammers started trying to trick her again to warn others not to fall for their phony toll bill scheme.
"I got a text a few days ago," she said. "They were saying that I owed toll money."
She immediately became skeptical because the text arrived at 5:30am. "I think of thought, you know , it's fake, and I deleted it."
However, that didn't stop the texts with phony bills and the texts became more threatening.
"Telling me I owed even more and that if I didn't pay it, they were going to suspend my license registration, take me to court, maybe my credit would be bad," she said.
She shared a screenshot of one of the messages.
A recent study by Bankrate finds that financial fraud remains a significant threat, with 68% of Americans reporting they have encountered a scam at some point in their lives and 34% of respondents having experienced some form of fraud in the past year.
"68% of Americans say that they've fallen for a scam or financial fraud at some point in their lives, but more than half of them say it's happened over the past 12 months," said Sarah Foster, Economic Analyst at Bankrate.
The study reveals generational differences in experiences with financial scams. Baby boomers (ages 61-79) reported the highest rate of scam encounters at 39%. However, Gen Z-ers (ages 18-28) were most likely to suffer financial losses, with 53% indicating they lost money due to fraud compared to 45% of millennials and 32% of Gen Xers.
Attempts to access personal financial information are prevalent, with 90% of those who experienced fraud in the last year reporting attempts at unauthorized access. More than half of these attempts, however, were unsuccessful. Despite precautions taken by the majority, including avoiding suspicious links (69%) and enabling two-factor authentication (49%), about 3 in 4 Americans who took preventive measures still fell victim to fraud.
The stress of high inflation is also a contributing factor, with experts warning that economic pressures leave individuals more vulnerable to scams. Foster noted, "Financial scams today come in all shapes and sizes... Fraudsters and scammers aim to trick you into parting with your cash or giving them your sensitive information."
If you are a victim of financial fraud:
- file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov
- file a complaint with local law enforcement
- report it to your bank or credit card issuer
- check your credit reports to dispute any accounts you didn't open and consider putting a freeze on your credit to prevent accounts being opened without your consent
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