'Consumers' in 'communities'

Was listening to Radio 4, an article about mail scams, and was struck by the repeated reference to people, the victims of these scams, as ‘consumers’. So it was not ‘vulnerable people’ but ‘vulnerable consumers’ etc. Then it was ‘we must educate communities’

I guess ‘citizens’ is out of fashion, but replacing it with ‘consumers’ seems a sad reflection.

And ‘communities’ must be the word with the most usage for the least meaning.