Cox Communications & National Council on Aging
Phone Fraud & Vulnerability: Survey Results
Cox Communications and the National Council on Aging (NCOA) recently commissioned Brook Adams Research to conduct a survey of men and women aged 55+ to assess their level of concern regarding phone fraud.
Survey results found:
Seniors targeted for phone-based fraud
- Nearly one-third of senior consumers polled know someone who has been a victim of a phone-based scam
- More than seven out of ten (79%) believe phone-based scams are directed primarily at older people
-Seniors are most fearful of the following types of phone scams: More than half (56%) that their identify will be stolen, 1/3 of people (or 34%) that their credit card/ bank information will be stolen
Seniors utilize technology to protect their privacy
-The majority of consumers (69%) use caller ID and call blocking (27%) on their landline telephone; nearly eight in ten people (78%) use caller ID and call blocking to avoid having to talk to sales people and/or solicitors
- Seventy nine percent of senior consumers have registered with the Do Not Call (DNC) list. Interestingly enough, of those who have not registered, 60% of those who do know about the DNC list do not know how to register
Seniors believe more education needs to be done to protect privacy
- Close to every senior consumer surveyed (95%) believe more needs to be done to protect seniors from phone scams
- Six out of ten Americans (64%) expressed a need for resources and tools to protect themselves from phone-based scams
The findings presented are the results of 501 surveys conducted in late February using a Web based methodology. The survey was conducted among a representative sample of adult men and women aged 55 years and older in the United States. The survey was conducted from Brook Adams Research national fiftyplussurvey.com panel.
