Woman Most Likely to Fall Prey to Online Fraudsters

Professional women aged between 25-34 are the demographic most likely to be caught out by online scammers according to research published today by knowthenet.org.uk.

The online advice site that was set up to promote the safe use of the Internet commissioned the research to better understand the profile of the typical victim of online scams and to raise awareness of the increasingly sophisticated methods used by scammers to part web users from their money.

The study measured the ability of a sample group of 2,000 people to spot and respond appropriately to seven online scams. Scenarios included the sale of counterfeit goods, fake social networking pages, competition scams and phishing emails.

Women were the most likely group to fail in six out of the seven tests carried out and of these the majority came from the 25-34 age-group. The one test in which men fared worse than women was the confidence trick scam in which the victim is persuaded to send money to a person falsely claiming to be in distress.

According to separate research from the National Fraud Authority, online fraud and scams affect 1.8 million Britons every year, costing the economy £2.7bn. The findings of knowthenet’s research are surprising in light of the fact that women spend more time online, 24.8 hours per month compared to just 22.9 hours for men.

Peter Wood, a security expert at knowthenet, told the Guardian: “Scammers are becoming more devious in how they target victims and are constantly changing their attacks to reflect what people expect to see online or are interested in. New tricks like pharming work by redirecting your web browser – that means when you type in a legitimate web address, you’re redirected to a bogus site that looks genuine site. People then happily type in their personal details and don’t know they’re being scammed before it’s too late. The popularity of social networks like Facebook also means that many people – young and old – give away far too much personal data on the web, which can be a gold mine for scammers.”

The threat test is available to take online at knowthenet.org.uk along with a series of short films in which statements from both victims of online fraud and scammers are spoken by actors to offer insight into different types of online scams, how they operate and the type of people who fall for them.

Knowthenet’s top five tips for staying safe online

• If an offer online seems too good to be true, it probably is!
• Never give any personal information to organisations or people before verifying who they are.
• Verify the identity of anyone you deal with online before handing over any money
• Parents and their children should agree on a code word or phrase (such as a few words from a song) or question that could be used to verify an emergency if they go travelling.
• Adjust the privacy settings of social network sites so you aren’t conducting your entire life as an outside broadcast with everyone in the world