Ecommerce Foundation shares advice on why do consumers fall for scams

Some interesting results reveal that:

• The average consumer receives 55 scam attempts per year;

• Consumers (75%) feel confident they can recognise scams, but they fall for them anyway;

• Highly educated consumers fall or try scams more than people with less education;

• Men (40%) are more prone to losing money than women (32%).

The most popular scams are attempts to gain personal information (15%), unexpected winnings (15%), and scams related to buying and selling online (14%). The number of fraud attempts differs strongly per country. Nigeria and South Africa are suffering the most. 82% of the participants from these countries received at least one scam attempt in 2018. Countries that followed are the US (81%), Australia and Canada (79%), and the UK (72%). In comparison ‘only’ 59% Spanish and 55% Indian participants reported receiving a scam.

The amount of experience with shopping online also has a strong influence on the vulnerability towards being scammed. Those who have no or very little online shopping experience fall for scams more easily (51%) than those who shop on a weekly or monthly basis (25%).

The average amount lost amongst American participants is USD 1000. While most people lose relatively small amounts, the number of Investment and Romantic scams increase the average significantly.

Participants believe that the best way to fight frauds is to block scammers from the internet and (social) media (55%). Half of the consumers also think that scammers should be prosecuted more severely, and a single organisation should be set-up to report and fight scams (32%). Also educating consumers more is believed to reduce the number of scams (46%).