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• Posted December 20, 2024

Who is At Risk For Cybercrime?

Who’s more likely to send money in response to a Nigerian prince’s email, or hand over a password in response to a phishing attempt?

Young people are more likely to report -- and gripe about -- cybercrimes, but a new study shows seniors are at higher risk of serious consequences from online scams and schemes.

Seniors 75 and older are more than four times as likely to lose money to cybercriminals than younger folks, researchers reported in the journal PLOS One.

They are also twice as likely to repeatedly fall for cyber scams, results show.

“Cybercrime victimization was less common with older age, as would be expected, because younger demographics continue to spend more time online, increasing their exposure to online threats,” the research team led by Benjamin Havers, a doctoral candidate with the University College London’s Dawes Center for Future Crime, wrote.

Despite that, “people aged 75+ were most likely to experience repeat victimization and financial loss” from cybercrimes, the researchers concluded.

For the study, researchers analyzed more than 35,000 responses to a 2019-2020 crime survey of people living in England and Wales.

The results showed that young adults 16 to 24 were most likely to report experiencing cybercrime, but people 75 and older tended to suffer financial loss and endure repeated victimization.

People also were at greater risk of falling for cybercrime if they were in worse physical, mental or cognitive health, results show.

Overall, adults 55 and older in England and Wales lost more than $5 million to cybercrimes involving fraud or hacking, researchers said in background notes.

These results show that police, financial institutions, and other authorities “should focus on empowering older adults to detect fraudulent activity before loss is incurred, and removing barriers to reporting,” researchers concluded.

“Given that victimization was associated with physical and cognitive impairments, software professionals might consider how online platforms and their security features and offerings can be more inclusive."

More information

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has more about cybercrime.

SOURCE: PLOS One, news release, Dec. 18, 2024