The Overoptimism of Gen Z Youth Almost Assures More Scams – 2024
The Overoptimism of Gen Z Youth Almost Assures More Scams
Sorry Gen Z, You are Going to be Scammed at a Rate 10x that of the Elderly! Why Gen Z and Millennials’ Overconfidence in Handling Fraud May Be Unrealistic—and Costly
Primary Category: Psychology of Scams
Author:
• Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.
About This Article
Gen Z and Millennials are facing fraud at alarming rates, partly due to overconfidence in their ability to spot scams and protect themselves online. This overconfidence is largely driven by cognitive biases and logical fallacies, such as optimism bias, which leads them to believe that bad things won’t happen to them, and the Dunning-Kruger effect, where limited knowledge makes them feel overly secure in handling fraud. Additionally, logical fallacies like “appeal to tech savviness” make them assume that tech familiarity equals fraud prevention skills.
