3. Online scams

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You get prompted to change your banking passwords. A distant relative who died in a car crash in Venezuela has left you a $22.56 million legacy. You’ve just won a dream holiday in the Seychelles.

Sound familiar? Our email Inboxes are clogged with email scams. National Consumer Agency research reveals that online scams of all kinds are the most common experienced by consumers. Email is tops, accounting for 52% of reported scam attempts. Social media scams are becoming more prevalent, experienced by 23% of consumers, while 29% recalled receiving scam text messages. eCommerce scams are rarer, reported by just 17%.

Commenting on the findings, market researcher Behaviour & Attitudes reported that internet related scams are much more prevalent among men, among the middle class and among those living in Dublin. This mirrors the structure of the online, working population.

Source: National Consumer Agency Awareness and Experience of Scams Research, conducted by Behaviour & Attitudes, March 2010. Based on a sample of 1,007 adults aged 16+

Back to contents of State of the Net issue 17