{"id":1068,"date":"2020-11-09T06:00:12","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T11:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=1068"},"modified":"2024-04-25T23:20:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T03:20:28","slug":"fraud-watch-real-estate-scams-and-the-millennial-home-shopper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/fraud-watch-real-estate-scams-and-the-millennial-home-shopper\/","title":{"rendered":"Fraud Watch: Real Estate Scams and the Millennial Home Shopper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to the Federal Trade Commission, tech-savvy\nfolks aged 40 and under are far from immune to scams and frauds. And most scams\nthat hook them begin in an email. And the coronavirus\neconomy<\/a> is creating even more opportunities for fraud risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A bogus email can appear to be a message from an ecommerce or\nbusiness site, or even from the government. Millennials are twice as likely as\npeople age 40 and older to report falling for a scam while browsing messages or\nsocial media posts and clicking on one of the advertisements. There are phony giveaways,\nthe sale of tickets to fake events, and undelivered or counterfeit items. Young\nadults are also the targets of education, employment, and investment scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these tricks can be life-changing. While online\nshopping fraud might involve just a few hundred dollars or less, millennials\nalso face real estate scams, such as organized wire fraud and mortgage relief\nploys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Granted, millennials may be more likely to report<\/em> losing money. Twenty- and thirty-somethings tend to be most likely\u00a0to submit reports of money lost to some kind of scam,\u00a0says the FTC<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pandemic Effect<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As\u00a0for financial impact by age<\/a>, the 2020 pandemic has hit the under-40 group in the wallet, and disrupted young adults\u2019 careers, much harder than it has hit their elders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people under 40 were already dealing with student loans,\na tight job market, the increasing use of temporary employment and a growing gig\neconomy. And now they\u2019re being targeted by a slew of coronavirus scams that aim\nto steal people\u2019s financial data, their money, and their houses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been tens of thousands of pandemic scams<\/a> reported and tens of millions in losses through 2020, and some are related to housing. Be especially wary of mortgage or rental help offers that want up-front payments, whether by cash, check, or wire transfers. Official relief plans don\u2019t charge up-front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young Homeowners Under Stress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Young homeowners who were thrilled to get their mortgages in\nrecent years now may find paying those mortgages much more daunting than they\u2019d\nexpected. Know that homeowners (especially young and elderly folks) are\nstruggling, swindlers are out and about with some clever ways to separate\nowners from their possessions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faux collectors are zeroing in on struggling homeowners with\na variety of tricks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n