One in seven Swiss has lost money to cyber scam

Only one-third of victims of an online scam report the crime to the police, the survey found. Keystone-SDA

One in seven adults in Switzerland has fallen victim to a cyber scam, according to a survey published by the SonntagsZeitung newspaper. One-third of victims have lost over CHF1,000 ($1,200).

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The survey, carried out by the Sotomo institute on behalf of the insurer Axa, also reveals that only a third of victims of an online scam reported it to the police.

Official crime statistics indicate a sharp rise in this type of scam. Last year, more than 59,000 online criminal offences were recorded.

But given that a minority of victims file complaints, the number of people who have been ripped off is likely to be much higher, says the German-language weekly.

Even among people who have been swindled out of more than CHF1,000, less than half (46%) have alerted the police.

Surprisingly, young people appear to be more affected than older people. This can be explained by the fact that younger people make more purchases via the internet, and are therefore more exposed.

Most scams are carried out via “fake shops” (false online stores), accounting for 38% of all crimes, followed by phishing (stealing personal identities via e-mails) at 33%.

More than three-quarters of respondents believe that cybercrime poses major challenges to society. They are particularly concerned about cyber attacks against sensitive infrastructures (47% of respondents), cyber scams (44%), manipulation of opinion and false profiles (also 44%).

On the other hand, respondents are less concerned about the country’s technological dependence on foreign multinationals (17% concerned) or the effects of digital tools on social life (18%) or mental health (16%).

The survey was carried out in February-March among 1,706 people.

Translated from French by DeepL/sb

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