Skip to main content

What Makes Us Vulnerable To Internet Scams?

Untitled
Enlarge Icon
Flickr Photo/Bogdan Zaharie (CC BY-NC-ND)

Ross Reynolds talks with Doug Shadel, fraud expert and director of AARP Washington, about whom con artists are targeting and how to avoid falling victim to Internet scams.

Shadel said a recent AARP study revealed that victims reported 53 percent more negative life events (loss of a job, personal stress or illness) than the previous months preceding being victimized.

"Be careful if you had one of these life stress situations. We're taught to tough it out, soldier on no matter what happens — that makes you vulnerable to [the scams]," he said. Shadel is also the author of "Outsmarting the Scam Artists: How to Protect Yourself From the Most Clever Cons."

Why you can trust KUOW