NORTHBROOK, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–If it seems like you’re receiving more spam than normal, you probably are. Seventy-four percent of Americans say they have received a scam text so far this year, while as many as 83% have received a scam phone call, according to Allstate Identity Protection’s (AIP) first quarter Identity Fraud in Focus report. Of those, nearly half report receiving 11 or more spam attempts via text or call every week.
Although even successful scams sometimes fail to escalate to instances of full-blown identity theft – and therefore are not counted toward Allstate Identity Protection case counts – they are nonetheless burdensome and costly to victims.
“We hear stories regularly from people who were scammed out of their nest eggs,” says AIP Director of Customer Care Brian Stuart. “Financial institutions don’t often cover these losses, so we want to empower everyone with the tools to recognize scams before they start.”
To help educate and protect people from ever-evolving online threats, Allstate Identity Protection identifies three varieties of scam that Americans should be aware of:
- Spam texts & phone calls: Scam phone calls and texts are nearly ubiquitous. And although 60% of respondents report having some kind of protection against spam/scams, many rely on basic features that come pre-installed on their devices and are not seeking additional layers of defense.
- Charity scams: Fraudsters try to take advantage of crisis…
