KRDO13 Investigates calls scammers as data shows Gen Z is tricked more than Boomers

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Scammers are everywhere. I receive suspicious calls, texts, or emails nearly every day, so I decided to turn the tables and call them to ask why they do it.

On March 8, 20-year-old Lucas Whiting received a call from someone who identified themselves as an agent with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They told him there was an overseas package with his name on it. The package had drugs inside, and Whiting was facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and years in jail.

“I can't risk going to jail and putting the rest of my family in danger or ruining my life entirely,” he recalled thinking at the time.

Whiting told the agent the package wasn’t his, so the agent said someone had his personal information and was using it to ship drugs into the country. He told Whiting whoever was doing this could access his bank account and he needed to secure his funds.

“There were slight gaps, but it was all mostly believable, especially with being told you can't tell anyone,” Whiting said. “Like we have this case, as soon as it's closed, it'll be fine.”

The supposed agent told Whiting to transfer his money to Bitcoin. While still on the phone, Whiting went to the nearest Bitcoin machine at a gas station just outside his neighborhood to create an account. Whiting received multiple QR codes to deposit the money, so he clicked on the first one. That click sent the so-called customs agent his life savings, more than $9,000.

“It's definitely changed some of the trajectory of our lives, at least in the short term,” said Whiting, who was planning a wedding with his fiance when he lost the money.

When Whiting realized what happened, he filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, and the Colorado Springs Police Department.

Any complaint made with the FTC is immediately available to federal, state, and local law enforcement.

In 2023, scammers made history. The FTC said consumers lost more than $10 billion to fraud — the most ever recorded and a 14% increase from the year before. The most common fraud last year was imposter scams, so Whiting isn’t alone, as consumers lost $2.7 billion to people impersonating government officials, family members, or authority figures.

“Contact the real entity using a phone number that you know is real because many of these scams now are impersonating companies where you might hold an account and they'll make you think that your money is at risk,” said Emma Fletcher, a senior data researcher with the Federal Trade Commission. “Then ironically, the people end up getting scammed because they thought their account had been compromised when in fact it was all fake.”

When digging through the FTC’s 2023 data, I found another alarming trend. Reported scams against people 20 to 29 years old have doubled in the last five years. In 2023, the FTC said that age group reported losing money more often than those 70 or older. Whiting, who falls in that category as a 20-year-old, said he isn’t surprised.

“If you go after younger people, they may not have as much money, but they don't have the resources and know-how in order to fight it, dispute it, or know that they're even being scammed.”

As someone who falls within that age category, I wanted to experience what it was like to be on the other line with a scammer. I found a website that posts alleged scam numbers as a way to warn the public. One of the numbers was from a fake computer error message.

The person who answered was difficult to understand, not because of her foreign accent, but because of the loud background noise. She immediately identified herself as “tech support.”

“There are hackers from various locations that are trying to access your computer,” she said. “That is the reason your computer got locked. Look at your typing keyboard. I will help you unlock your computer.”

I pretended to follow her step-by-step process, including pressing a certain combination of keys on the keyboard, downloading software, and entering codes in a prompt.

That’s when I realized the loud background noise was a call center. Other alleged scammers were giving callers the exact same steps I was going through.

The process included a lot of back-and-forth and verification. She was constantly asking what was happening on my screen and to read back messages that popped up. This is how she eventually learned I wasn’t actually following along.

"I know you are playing around so you can go play in the playground,” she said. “Do not waste my time here."

I called more than 40 different numbers of alleged scammers. Many didn’t answer or the numbers were no longer in service. When I identified myself as a reporter and asked them why they were scamming people, nearly everyone hung up or called me a liar, except one person.

He said he made about 5 to 10 calls on weekdays, but when I asked him if he worked alone or in a call center, he hung up.

“Uh I'm not supposed to be on this call,” he said.

Here is the full conversation with the scammers.

The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) tracks fraud cases but doesn’t have data for cases against victims younger than 65. However, the agency said scammers have similar methods no matter the age of the victim.

“They want to put that sense of urgency and how important it is because they want that emotional reaction from you,” said Owen Scott, a lieutenant with the Colorado Springs Police Department. “Whatever they're going to ask you to do, they make it sound like it's immediate. So they want you to do it right away, if not, you're going to be in a lot of trouble.”

Scott said he wasn’t surprised young adults are being scammed more often than seniors. In fact, he said the agency has seen an uptick in scams against teenagers, especially with the growth of social media. The FTC said scams through social media accounted for the most losses in 2023, totaling $1.4 billion.

“The Internet and technology in general has made it more difficult because there's so many different avenues that (scammers) can attack and there's also so many different avenues that you can move (money),” Scott said.

Both the FTC and CSPD said to look out for certain red flags, including people asking for gift cards or Bitcoin and when people try to rush you to make quick decisions.

“When you get excited and you get nervous and you get scared, you don't have rational thought,” Scott said. “That's what they're preying on, is for you to make those rash, sudden decisions and send them the money. By the time you think about it, ‘Should I have really done that?’ It's too late.”

Whiting learned this the hard way and now has his own advice to avoid being scammed.

“If you have any doubts, hang up,” he said. “They will come to your door. If they're legit, if they actually need you, they will find you.”