Over the past year, consumers have seen a significant increase in text messaging-based scams, especially for younger American consumers aged between 18 – 29 years old, according to the latest Consumer Cyber Readiness Report. The fourth annual report is being released during Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
This year’s data showed large inequities in the groups most vulnerable to digital scams. For example, while the percentage of Americans who reported losing money was the same as last year, at one in 10, this year’s report showed for the first time that people with the lowest household incomes were three times as likely to report financial losses as people in the highest income households.
The report also found continued racial disparity in financial losses related to scams: 37 percent of Black Americans who encountered a scam lost money, compared to 15 percent of White Americans. These figures were similar to those reported last year and similar findings that made by others recently, including the Federal Trade Commission.
“Cyberattacks and digital scams continue to cause serious harm to American consumers, often with devastating consequences,” Yael Grauer, program manager at Consumer Reports, said in a statement.
Government and industry needs to do more to protect consumer privacy and security, Grauer said. But, he added, with federal consumer protection agencies facing reduced resources, it’s even more critical to empower consumers to adopt strong cybersecurity practices against increasingly sophisticated scams and attacks.
Additional findings of the surveys include:
- Nearly half of American consumers have encountered a cyberattack or a digital scam. One in five of those lost money.
- 84 percent of American social media users encountered experiences that may pose a risk of cyberattack or digital scam.
- Nearly two-thirds of social media users say they’ve received friend requests from people they don’t know. About half say they’ve received direct messages that seemed to be part of a scam or fraud attempt. About half say they’ve received direct messages on social media from people they don’t know.
- Three out of four scam attempts that Americans have experienced began on email, social media, or text messages, or through a messaging app.
- 30 percent of those who had experienced a cyberattack or digital scam said it began in a text message or a messaging app, while only 20 percent said that last year’s survey.
- Phishing was still the most common type of scam or attack that people experienced with 39 percent of those who had experienced an attack or scam saying that the scam used messages or emails claiming to be from a legitimate source asking for personal information.
- About a third of Americans don’t use unique passwords across accounts, even though doing it can limit the damage when a single password is compromised.
There were some improvements in actions consumers took to improve their security:
- Use of password managers: 42 percent vs. 36 percent last year.
- Increase in having identity theft protection services: 33 percent vs. 28 percent last year.
- Increase in having browser extensions that block trackers: 29 percent vs. 25 percent last year.
- Increase in having file encryption software: 14 percent vs. 10 percent last year.
Grauer said, with even less funding for consumer protection agencies, companies can help by making products with security built in and using the best practices such as data minimization.
By pausing, taking nine seconds before you click, download, and share, consumers can take steps to protect themselves. Aspen Digital, a cybersecurity organization that worked with Consumer Reports on the surveys, is offering a campaign called Take9 to get consumers to slow down in stressful, potential scam situations.
Consumer Reports also offers a tool, Security Planner, which helps individuals build a digital security plan that’s tailored to their needs and the devices they use.
The Global Cyber Alliance also participated in the surveys.
