Security News > 2021 > February > Hit block caller: 75% of Americans were targeted by scammers
While it's logical to assume seniors would be primary targets, a new report revealed that millennials were actually the most targeted demographic group of the more than 50 billion spam calls made in 2020.
The increase in calls has enabled scammers to go ham on the unsuspecting, as they steal money and damage trust.
Americans were behind much of the world in terms of texting, but when they went from nearly all phone calls to text, it seemed as though text was the go to option for everything from conducting business to asking for a divorce.
The Hiya report noted: "One of the common tactics scammers use is to spoof a legitimate business' phone number and exploit their customers. Nearly half of the US consumers surveyed are regularly targeted by these spoof calls, with larger businesses typically targeted more than SMEs. This is having negative consequences on businesses, too, with 48% of consumer respondents reporting they are suspicious of subsequent calls coming from a business that has been spoofed."
Americans are reporting that they are regularly missing important calls "Primarily because people don't answer unidentified calls." Further, 94% of unidentified calls went unanswered in 2020.
According to 85% of survey respondents indicated concerns that unidentified calls "Might be fraudulent." Hiya noted that "What's even more concerning is that 36% of respondents believe company cash flow has taken a hit by the reduced number of customers answering their phones."