"Women aged 25-34 are most likely to fall victim of online scams, according to knowthenet research released today. The online research was commissioned to better understand the profile of online scam victims and build up a picture of what a typical ‘mark’ will look like.
In a drive to help consumers protect themselves online our Internet security experts conducted an experiment involving more than 2,000 online consumers which measured their ability to spot and respond appropriately to seven online scam scenarios. The tests ranged from identifying fake social network pages to testing how consumers respond to competition scams or the sale of counterfeit goods online.
In six out of the seven tests, the most likely demographic to fail was women. And of those women that failed, they were most likely to come from the 25-34 age group. However, the demographic of the most likely ‘victim’ did depend on the scam type. For example, out of those that fell for confidence trick scams – which often try to persuade people to send money to help someone in distress - the majority were men (53% of those that failed).
Phil Kingsland, Site Director at knowthenet, comments, “Our research shows that even confident web users can be vulnerable. The good news is that there are lots of simple, easy steps you can take to make it harder for the criminals. You just need to stay aware and this site helps you to do that.”
We with respect might disagree having investigated the online dating scams. This would seem to indicate that the male signing up with an online dating site or replying to the famous "Boris" letter probably represent the majority of the victims. Reference - http://www.delphifaq.com. We may be wrong. If you have been scammed share your experience in the comments here
