Gen Z and millennials are now most at risk of extortion scams

RetiredGreyFox · 23 Dec 2025 at 20:03

I saw this on the News today, was quite surprised thinking it would be Boomers.

https://www.newsweek.com/gen-z-and-millennials-most-at-risk-of-ai-scams-survey-shows-10892076

However I must admit most of the old people I know don't trust anything they see on their tablets, phones etc although they get taken in by AI pictures/videos.
Even my 85 year old Mum wouldn't respond to anything unless she ran it past me or my Sister.
I know there are exceptions, my ex Roadie lives next door to his Mum and she knocked on his door saying "Why do you want another £15,000 when I've just sent you £15,000 half an hour ago?".

What are your experiences?

Malevolence · 23 Dec 2025 at 20:16

Zefan · 23 Dec 2025 at 20:22

I don't think this takes in to account the fact that millenials and gen z are *online* an order of magnitude more than boomers and even gen x. I mean this in terms of just general time spent, but also how much of their lives are integrated.

:edit1: I'm referring more to surprise at this being tbe case, rather than the article, they clearly mention it as being the cause.

:edit: also, perhaps more stupidly, the way the findings are being presented is misleading.:

With seven in 10 victims being Gen Z or millennial, the study revealed that growing up digitally savvy doesn’t necessarily make you immune to the risks of falling for a scam."

For some reason they've grouped these generations together, with them being 40% of the the adult population as of 2024.

Hagar · 23 Dec 2025 at 20:32

SexyGreyFox said:
I saw this on the News today, was quite surprised

I was never very good with integrals.

But as a boomer none of my money is accessible online. Savings are passbook operated, checking accounts for cash, i need to use a debit card for access at an ATM. I don't have a credit card. I do however have quite a lot of savings.

RetiredGreyFox · 23 Dec 2025 at 21:08

Hagar said:
I was never very good with integrals.

But as a boomer none of my money is accessible online. Savings are passbook operated, checking accounts for cash, i need to use a debit card for access at an ATM. I don't have a credit card. I do however have quite a lot of savings.

We had our first Credit Card earlier this year and i used it 3 weeks ago to buy a synth off eBay.
Mrs reckons you get more protection.

Pawnless Endgame · 23 Dec 2025 at 21:29

I've heard of Millennials, but had to look up gen Z. There now seems to be a fixation of pigeon-holing people into categories that I don't recall 10-20 years ago. The same goes with left and right wing people.

Those (old and young) falling for online scams are probably the ones who are more interested in the "social media" side of the internet i.e. TikTok and Instagram. Where those who were brought up on Web 1.0 or earlier probably have a better understanding on how the internet and email works and saw the first lot of scams e.g. romance / travel scams, pyramid schemes and early spyware, and in particular, how one catches spyware.

Edit: there is also a gen Alpha which is the one after Z.

malachi · 23 Dec 2025 at 21:31

Unlucky Millennials!!

Ryan-3 · 23 Dec 2025 at 22:40

I'm personally shocked that anyone of my age (30) falls for scams online now. I don't care about or even want to enter details into the genuine stuff you see online, nevermind the random things that come up.

TrojanWhore · 23 Dec 2025 at 23:45

Ryan-3 said:
I'm personally shocked that anyone of my age (30) falls for scams online now. I don't care about or even want to enter details into the genuine stuff you see online, nevermind the random things that come up.

Imagine how stupid the average person is.... now imagine that half of them are supider than that! (to paraphrase George Carlin)

Not gonna lie, I'd generally think I'm pretty astute, but a door to door one a few months ago got the better of me. Noticed it before I got scammed but did let my number slip. I now get slightly more dodgy calls than I used to, asking about insurance products that I definitely don't have.

Nabinium · 23 Dec 2025 at 23:48

SexyGreyFox said:
Mrs reckons you get more protection.

The Section 75 protection that comes with a credit card can be quite useful.

Vexr · 24 Dec 2025 at 06:06

Gotta wonder if there's an aspect of desperation disproportionately hitting younger people. I remember suspecting certain job adverts were fake back in the aftermath of 2008, but still applied to them in case they were real, relinquishing a lot of my details. Later found out lots of ads were recruitment companies farming CVs and registrations for non-existent jobs in order to present a portfolio of candidates to potential clients. Less so back then was identity theft the case at least. The government were happy to have massive amounts of fake job ads so they could pretend there was a strong recovery happening as demonstrated by job vacancies.

Younger people these days face IRL queues for student accommodation and viewings for private rentals, so I can only imagine how they're conditioned to react (and suspend disbelief / critical thinking) out of fear they'd be missing a rare opportunity to get something like a roof over their heads. The boomer and Gen X'er on the other hand now wants for nothing and is relatively tech savvy and suspicious when they do need to venture into the fray to do things like book this year's vacations. The country's in a state alright.

Sankari · 24 Dec 2025 at 06:13

Millennials and Gen Z are nowhere near as internet savvy as they think they are.

RetiredGreyFox · 24 Dec 2025 at 08:12

Vexr said:
Gotta wonder if there's an aspect of desperation disproportionately hitting younger people. I remember suspecting certain job adverts were fake back in the aftermath of 2008, but still applied to them in case they were real, relinquishing a lot of my details. Later found out lots of ads were recruitment companies farming CVs and registrations for non-existent jobs in order to present a portfolio of candidates to potential clients. Less so back then was identity theft the case at least. The government were happy to have massive amounts of fake job ads so they could pretend there was a strong recovery happening as demonstrated by job vacancies.

Younger people these days face IRL queues for student accommodation and viewings for private rentals, so I can only imagine how they're conditioned to react (and suspend disbelief / critical thinking) out of fear they'd be missing a rare opportunity to get something like a roof over their heads. The boomer and Gen X'er on the other hand now wants for nothing and is relatively tech savvy and suspicious when they do need to venture into the fray to do things like book this year's vacations. The country's in a state alright.

You make a good point, it would be helpful if there was a list of what they fall for unlike a load of Boomers sending to a GoFundMe page for three imaginary AI triplets standing on French beaches slashing immigrant boats.

malachi · 24 Dec 2025 at 09:38

Vexr said:
Gotta wonder if there's an aspect of desperation disproportionately hitting younger people. I remember suspecting certain job adverts were fake back in the aftermath of 2008, but still applied to them in case they were real, relinquishing a lot of my details. Later found out lots of ads were recruitment companies farming CVs and registrations for non-existent jobs in order to present a portfolio of candidates to potential clients. Less so back then was identity theft the case at least. The government were happy to have massive amounts of fake job ads so they could pretend there was a strong recovery happening as demonstrated by job vacancies.

Very much happening now on a higher level. With so many people out of work and uni grads applying for their first job online.