Most Internet scam victims are young people, says report

Singaporeans more wary of cyber threats
Representational picture Mal Langsdon/Reuters

China's younger generation may be more Internet savvy than the older people, but they still account for most of the victims of Internet scams, according to an anti-fraud website.

More than 70 per cent of 24,260 Internet fraud reports received by the website, operated jointly by China's software security firm Qihoo 360 and the Beijing Public Security Bureau, involved victims born in the 90s and 80s, according to the website's 2017 report on telecom fraud in China, Xinhua news reported.

The website 110.360.cn, is open for the reporting of Internet scams and does not have a financial minimum for fraud cases. Even a loss of 1 yuan ($0.16) can be registered for complaint.

The report shows that total Internet fraud cases in 2017 involved more than $55 million, up 17.6 per cent year-on-year.

"People born in the 90s and 80s are the main Internet users, they are also the main victims of Internet fraud," said Liu Yang, an anti-fraud expert with the website.

He said 65.6 per cent of the victims fell into fraud traps in the process of bank transfers, third party payments and QR code scanning.

He also warned that those born this century had become a target for Internet fraud, accounting for 8.4 per cent of the victims in 2017, from three per cent a year ago.

( IANS)

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