Employment scams took over the top spot this year as the riskiest scam in 2018, according to a report released today by the Better Business Bureau. Employment scams had more instances and higher losses than in previous years.

Employment scams target a large number of people and tend to result in significant monetary loss, according to the BBB.

Although susceptibility to employment scams last year remained about the same, the number of employment scams reported to BBB Scam Tracker in 2018 increased to 9.1% of all scams from 5.1% of scams reported in 2017; the median dollar loss jumped to $1,204 in 2018 from $800 in 2017.

Employment was the riskiest scam in three of the six age groups, and for both men and women. It was also the riskiest scam for military families and veterans, and students.

“This was a surprise,” said Melissa Lanning Trumpower, executive director of the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust, which produced the report. “It’s the first time since we began this report three years ago that one scam dominated across so many demographic subgroups.”

Employment scams are a good example of the “high-touch” approach, where scammers take the time to prepare elaborate setups. According to the BBB report, scammers conduct in-depth interviews via Google Hangouts and other technologies, provide employment forms and ask scam targets to perform job duties before the scam is discovered. These efforts appear to pay off, as evidenced by the higher median dollar loss.

One possible reason for the increase in employment scams is that Amazon’s search for a second headquarters was in the news a lot. It was also the sixth-most impersonated organization mentioned in BBB Scam Tracker reports, after not even making the top 15 in previous years. In 2017, only 24 BBB Scam Tracker reports were employment scams that mentioned Amazon, but in 2018, that number jumped to 564.

“Scammers are opportunists,” said Trumpower. “Whatever is in the news or being talked about on social media, they see as an opening to imposter a recognizable and respected organization or brand.” And if the scam gets far enough, scammers collect the same information that real employers do, such as address, birth date, Social Security number and bank account information — “everything needed for identity theft.”

In order, the 10 riskiest scams of 2018 were: employment, online purchase, fake checks/money orders, home improvement, advance fee loans, romance, tech support, investment, travel/vacation and government grant.

The report is based on data supplied by consumers to BBB Scam Tracker and is based on the BBB Risk Index, a three-dimensional measure of scam risk based on the intersection of exposure, susceptibility and monetary loss. In 2018, more than 50,000 scam reports were published via BBB Scam Tracker. Reports were received from businesses and individuals across North America, representing a cross-section of the population.