Financial grooming led to high financial loss in 2024, report finds
Mar 4, 2025, 4:00 PM
A hand holds a credit card next to a silver laptop. (Canva)
(Canva)
SALT LAKE CITY — A new report by the Better Business Bureau showed scams involving financial grooming led to high financial loss in 2024. The report found that financial grooming was involved in the riskiest types of scams — investment, employment and romance scams.
During financial grooming, scammers build a relationship with their victims over time. Then, once they’ve gained trust, they begin to ask for money.
“So really the reason that they come in contact with these people is to convince them to send them money for XYZ or to invest in XYZ,” said BBB Mountain West Director of Communications Melani Fox.
Fox said the most common victims for these scams are students and seniors. According to the report, adults aged 65 and older reported the highest median dollar loss of $160.
“It makes sense, I mean seniors and students are often more trusting or maybe they’re not using critical thinking quite as strongly as someone who’s more in the middle of their life.”
Fox said most of these scams happen online.
“A lot of these just happen online as you’re talking with strangers. It’s kind of the stranger danger you learn as a kid, just not trusting people you haven’t met in person, and especially never giving them your banking information or personal information.”
According to the report, people who engaged with the scammers for more than a day are more likely to report losing money. Fox said in Utah, the most common scams were fake job listings and romance scams.
The BBB also found that 29% of victims reported their mental health being impacted by the scam.
Related: Salt Lake police warn against leaving items in cars after alleged theft of up to $3K in gifts
