CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Military members and their spouses are getting scammed for more money than civilian victims.
On average military consumers are reporting larger losses to scams than civilians, with a median loss of $196 dollars compared to $130 reported by all consumers, according to the Better Business Bureau risk index.
That same report says the riskiest scam for all military consumers is online purchase scams, which make up nearly a third of the scams reported.
But for active-duty service members, investment or crypto currency scams are the riskiest, with more than 70% reporting losses.
"Those tend to be scams where there are higher monetary losses. Median loss for investment scams was seven thousand," said Sammi Nachtigal with the Federal Trade Commission.
She says a close second when it comes to risk and significant loss, is employment scams.
So why are service members and their spouses are more vulnerable to these?
"They have life experiences that may be a little different than non-service members and their families have to relocate frequently. Those circumstances, having to move around a lot, 'My spouse has to find a new job,' that can maybe lead to some of these scams that are catching hold," she said.
Just this July online career-training company, Career Step, LLC was ordered to pay $43,500,000 in debt cancellation and cash refunds.
The FTC said the company lured consumers, specifically servicemembers and their families, with deceptive ads that falsely touted inflated employment outcomes, and promised job placement, and partnerships with prominent companies in the healthcare industry that they never followed through with.
According to the FTC's complaint, for years career step lured servicemembers to enroll.
They specifically targeted them through military-focused publications, like military.com, and through military-sponsored job fairs.
Nachtigal says deployment can also make military members and families more vulnerable.
"When you're in a big life change like that or your family is facing a big life change, it can catch you off guard. You're distracted," she said.
To better protect yourself from the targeted attacks-service members are encouraged to visit www.militaryconsumer.gov for trusted financial and educational resources.
It's a partnership with the FTC, the Department of Defense and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
While they do report more losses, military consumers do have a slightly better success rate with settling complaints via the BBB than the average consumer.