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Whether on Facebook, TikTok or Instagram, scams are everywhere. But on which social network are we most likely to come across scams? A study looked into the subject.
“You have won the latest iPhone“, “you have won a gift voucher“. You must have seen this kind of message circulating either by email or directly on your social networks. With more than 4 billion users on social networks, the scam market has never been so large. important.
Lookout*, specializing in cybersecurity, conducted a study of 1,000 American consumers to understand where the scams were the most numerous, which scams were the most widespread and their consequences on the lives of users.
80% of respondents said they encounter social media scams every month, and between 30 and 60% every week. It is on Facebook that users are most confronted with scams (62% each week). Follow TikTok (60%), WhatsApp (57%) and Instagram (56%). Twitter and LinkedIn close the rankings with 53% and 31% respectively.
Note that scams are more widespread by email or SMS. 88% of respondents are confronted every month (46% every day) with a scam via email. Message scams affect 83% of respondents, including 31% every day.
The most common scams
According to the study, the type of scams varies according to the social networks. We still find similarities between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp since the “Win A Prize / Free Gift” scam is at the top. Linkedin is meanwhile most affected by job and cryptocurrency scams.
Fake ads and sales scams come second for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok. Dating scams are the most common on WhatsApp.
Where do scams claim the most victims?
If it is on Facebook that users indicated having been confronted with a scam the most, it is on WhatsApp that the victims are the most numerous. 22% of people said they had been victims of an instant messaging scam. This is more than on Facebook (19%), TikTok (15%), Instagram and Twitter (14%) and LinkedIn (12%).
Among these victims, 56% have lost money, 34% mention the theft of their personal identity, 32% believe they have wasted their time and 22% have been dispossessed of their cryptocurrency.
The study specifies that among the victims who lost money, 46% lost 100 dollars or more, including 12% who lost more than 1000 dollars. 45% of people lost between $11 and $100.