Women have been found to be the most affected when it comes to online scams, according to a recent research. The research also brought out the fact that the age-group that was affected the most was women between the ages 25-34.
The research was carried out with the aim to identify the people who were able to spot as well as respond properly to seven online scam scenarios. Almost 2000 consumers were given tests which ranged from being able to identify sham Facebook pages to checking their response to sale of counterfeit goods online as well as competition scams.
It was found that women who were mostly in the age group of 25-34 were likely to fail in as much as 6 out of the 7 tests. The gender as well as the number also depended on the type of scams and the perfect example for that was that among those who fell for confidence tricks, 53% were men.
The research concluded revealing the fact that with internet scams on the rise anyone who uses the internet (no matter the frequency) could be affected. New tricks, such as pharming, work by redirecting the user's web browser, he said, so that when they type in a legitimate web address, they are redirected without knowing to a bogus site that appears genuine.
"People then happily type in their personal details and don't know they are being scammed before it's too late," it said.
Another risk that online users faced was the risks associated with people letting out too much of personal information on popular social networking sites like Facebook, even quoting this social networking site to be a goldmine for scammers.
The research results saw Oratory’s girls (and boys!) set about upping our security measures, Facebook has been privatized and Twitter is being carefully monitored. Speaking of which, come and say hi and add us as a friend on http://www.facebook.com/oratory.commerce .
