VANCOUVER --
Thirty-eight per cent of young adults in B.C. who experience the "fear of missing out" – commonly called "FOMO" – also think that social media is a reliable source of investing information, according to a survey from the B.C. Securities Commission.
The finding is based on a survey of 2,000 people, and has worried regulators at the province’s independent securities commission. The risks of investment fraud and FOMO is now the subject of a public education campaign, launched in time for Fraud Prevention Month.
“Results of this new research are particularly concerning because we’ve seen a surge in potentially fraudulent schemes peddled on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Doug Muir, the securities commission’s director of enforcement.