Blacks are losing more money to crimes against the person, report says

Identity crimes are equal opportunity offenders, but a recent study shows that blacks tend to lose more money when they are victims of fraud.

“We’ll say, ‘It’s just another loss,’ but the main thing about us is our resilience and how we turn losses into lessons,” said Derrick Banks, owner of the black-owned Freshly Faded Barber Shop in North Park. San Diego.

We turn losses into lessons.

Derrick Banks

As soon as the identity theft issue came up in the store, everyone could share the experience of how they were either attacked or scammed.

Jarrod Smith, a barber at the store, sat down in a chair to talk about how he fell for a scam in Texas that promised a quick $500 for a $50 investment.

“You fall for this trap, you say, ‘I’m going to make this very fast money,’ and then you know that your bank account is down, nothing is down,” he said.

Banks recalled a phone call his store received, purporting to be from an energy company. Did not have. “If you do not pay us right now, we will turn off the electricity in your hairdresser,” they threatened by phone. He remembered that he was a little scared, but, fortunately, he did not send money.

Banks says information and tools to fight don’t reach black communities, so he believes many are falling for scammers who take money, personal information, or both.

“We don’t know about all the pitfalls that many others have known about all along,” he said.

Derrick Banks, owner of Freshly Faded Barbershop, discusses the impact of crimes against the person on blacks.

Initial results from a larger three-year initiative by the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) and the Black Research Collective (BRC) seem to support Banks’s view as it examines the impact of identity crimes on black communities across the country.

Black victims are losing more money, according to the report’s survey, than according to a recent ITRC finding on the complaints they handled.

  • 16% of black victims said they lost between $5,000 and $9,999, compared to 10% of total ITRC complaints.
  • 26% said they were losing between $1,000 and $4,999 compared to 9% of total ITRC complaints.
  • 22% said they missed between $500 and $999, compared to 5% of total ITRC complaints.

“That’s a huge percentage of their annual income that goes to the thief,” said Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of ITRC. She added that the study also found that only 50% of black victims report their losses to law enforcement.

Banks was not surprised by this number.

“If I have to go out there and say, ‘Hey, my money was stolen from me,’ will I feel comfortable with someone who is not like me, who sometimes unfairly targets my community, that’s something difficult to do. ,” He said.

Velasquez says this could change their public relations strategies and who they partner with.

“We need to go to religious organizations or maybe nursing centers or other community groups that have a good reputation,” she said.

Smith agreed, going home. “I think they should put more shoes on the ground and make a face in the community,” he said.

Banks nodded and added, “They’ll only use us until we turn the whole game around, which is really cool.”

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