How the elderly in Denmark are losing their money to online scammers
Senior citizens in Denmark are more at risk than any other group of losing money to online criminals.
Every eleventh senior who comes into contact with scammers online loses money as a result, according to new figures published by Statistics Denmark.
In other words, 9 percent of people in Denmark aged between 65 and 74 who have been subject to attempted scams like false emails or fraudulent websites said they had lost money to IT criminals.
Hvert ellevte ældre offer for IT-kriminalitet svarer, at de har oplevet økonomiske tab som følge heraf. Dette gør ældre til den gruppe, som oftest oplever økonomiske tab, når de kommer i kontakt med IT-kriminelle. https://t.co/hLuOQI6gpe #dkpol #itpol #digdk #dktech pic.twitter.com/VSYYbImf57
— Danmarks Statistik (@DSTdk) September 9, 2019
The figures come from a survey carried out by Statistics Denmark on the population’s use of IT.
For the overall population, six percent of those who said they had experienced online crime also said they had suffered a resultant economic loss.
But senior citizens are not the only group to be targeted by online scams, the survey found – in fact, they are not even the most frequent target.
39 percent of people aged 65-74 reported they had experienced online security problems in recent years, compared to 50 percent of internet users in Denmark in general.
“One explanation of this is that some older people are not always able to see attempted online scams. That makes them easier victims for IT criminals,” Statistics Denmark analyst Monika Bille Nielsen said.
Security concerns encountered by internet users can take a number of forms, although the most common is false emails (phishing), in which targets are persuaded to hand over money after being engaged in a false email correspondence.
The next most common is referral to fake websites at which the victim is tricked into entering sensitive information such as passwords (pharming).
The two forms of scam were experienced respectively by 36 percent and 9 percent of Danish internet users between 65-74 years of age in 2019.
READ ALSO: 'Indignant' Danish police in operation against phone scammers
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Every eleventh senior who comes into contact with scammers online loses money as a result, according to new figures published by Statistics Denmark.
In other words, 9 percent of people in Denmark aged between 65 and 74 who have been subject to attempted scams like false emails or fraudulent websites said they had lost money to IT criminals.
Hvert ellevte ældre offer for IT-kriminalitet svarer, at de har oplevet økonomiske tab som følge heraf. Dette gør ældre til den gruppe, som oftest oplever økonomiske tab, når de kommer i kontakt med IT-kriminelle. https://t.co/hLuOQI6gpe #dkpol #itpol #digdk #dktech pic.twitter.com/VSYYbImf57
— Danmarks Statistik (@DSTdk) September 9, 2019
The figures come from a survey carried out by Statistics Denmark on the population’s use of IT.
For the overall population, six percent of those who said they had experienced online crime also said they had suffered a resultant economic loss.
But senior citizens are not the only group to be targeted by online scams, the survey found – in fact, they are not even the most frequent target.
39 percent of people aged 65-74 reported they had experienced online security problems in recent years, compared to 50 percent of internet users in Denmark in general.
“One explanation of this is that some older people are not always able to see attempted online scams. That makes them easier victims for IT criminals,” Statistics Denmark analyst Monika Bille Nielsen said.
Security concerns encountered by internet users can take a number of forms, although the most common is false emails (phishing), in which targets are persuaded to hand over money after being engaged in a false email correspondence.
The next most common is referral to fake websites at which the victim is tricked into entering sensitive information such as passwords (pharming).
The two forms of scam were experienced respectively by 36 percent and 9 percent of Danish internet users between 65-74 years of age in 2019.
READ ALSO: 'Indignant' Danish police in operation against phone scammers
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