Cybercriminals know that social media and email scams are mostly successful

Jan 4, 2012 11:50 GMT  ·  By

While close to 50% of United States citizens declare that they are able to identify a scam or a shady marketing technique, when tested more than half of the 1,858 consumers showed they would be likely to provide personal information to claim a prize after completing an online survey.

The figures show that online donations tempt only 31% of Americans, but a fabulous prize would catch the attention of more than half.

Free movies, online shopping registrations, opportunities to become wealthy fast, and free anti-virus software also present interest to many people, thus giving crooks the necessary motivation to launch the schemes we’re presented with almost daily.

To make the study as relevant as possible, each of the respondents was asked about how their friends would react to online scams. US subjects indicate that their friends are equally likely to provide private information online, while UK and Australian citizens believe their friends are more likely to do so.

“We generally find that when people are answering for others they are more inclined to reveal their true behavior, or in this case their susceptibility. Interestingly, the survey results from all three regions demonstrate that US respondents are more susceptible than either UK or Australian respondents for both the first and third person constructs, ” said Richard Clooke, online security expert, PC Tools.

The numbers also reveal that women, individuals aged between 18 and 25, with less education, and with an income between $25,000 (17,000 EUR) and $50,000 (34,000 EUR) are more susceptible to online scams.

The study made by PC Tools and the Ponemon Institut only comes to highlight the fact that cybercriminals started relying more on social engineering because they know a lot of people are unaware of these schemes and traditional security software can’t do much to protect them.