Gen Z is the biggest target for internet scams – seeing an increase of 116% in victims in 2020.
The research, conducted by SEON, assessed the overall state of online fraud in the US across different states and age demographics – to find out which generation is more susceptible to cybercrimes.
You can read the full research here: https://seon.io/resources/gen-z-report-online-fraud/
The growth in online fraud victims 2018 – 2020:
Age Range2018 Increase in victims2019 Increase in victims2020 Increase in victimsUnder 200.84%17.47%116.21%20-29-0.51%8.73%59.10%30-391.94%13.98%67.29%40-4912.63%2.61%76.55%50-5911.15%4.04%69.87%60+25.37%9.55%54.82%
Each age group saw exponential growth in fraud cases in 2020, possibly due to people spending more time online, with each age group’s victim total rising by more than 50%.
Under 20s had the highest increase in internet scams – a staggering 116.21%. This sizeable increase suggests that scammers are specifically targeting younger internet users and these users could benefit from further online safety discussions.
States that saw the highest losses among young people:
RankStateUnder 30 Average Losses1District of Columbia$7.5512Virginia$7.2933Oregon$7,0444Missouri$6,3325New York$5.1176Hawaii$4,8017North Dakota$3,9738California$3.7199Texas$3,66110Arizona$3.339
District of Columbia saw the highest average loss from victims under 30 – a loss of $7,551 per incident (roughly $500 more than the national average across all age groups).
Virginia ranks second with a slightly smaller average loss of $7,293 per incident, while Oregon ranks third with an average loss of $7,044 respectively.
The following figures in the rankings show that on average, young people tend to lose less money per incident when compared to the overall population – suggesting that those under 30 are the victims of smaller-scale scams or that in general those in the age group simply have less money than older generations.
Further Insights:
There were almost half a million (465,177) total victims of internet fraud in 2020 – resulting in a total loss of $3.29 billion across all age groups.North Dakota saw the highest average loss per incident across all age groups, with people losing $39,723.88 on average – a crippling amount of money to lose as the average US salary in 2020 was $56,310.The post Gen-z beware: Gen Z are now the main targets of internet scams – with a victim increase of 116.21% first appeared on West Wales Chronicle : News for Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Swansea and Beyond.
