Cybercrime continues to claim thousands of victims each year that leaves these hapless individuals out of pocket. Research from Kaspersky Lab reveals that over half (52%) of Internet users globally who’ve lost money at the hands of cybercriminals have only got some, or none, of their stolen funds back.
With the variety and sophistication of online financial threats against consumers growing, losses from online fraud, identity theft and hacking are now running at billions a year. In many of these cases the crime goes unreported which means that the true economic cost is likely to be higher than estimated.
The research reveals how these types of cybercrimes have become extremely lucrative for the cybercriminals and as a result have become increasingly costly on the unknowing victims. On average, Internet users lose $476 per attack and one-in-ten people surveyed said they lost more than $5,000.
A vast majority of Internet users say they conduct financial operations online (81%) and just under half (44%) store financial data on their connected devices. As more users move online to manage their finances, more cybercriminals are looking for opportunities to cash in, making it important for users to have robust Internet security in place to protect themselves and their money. Nevertheless, only 60% of Internet users protect all their devices.
Almost half of the users (45%) just assume that they will be reimbursed by banks for financial cybercrimes this influences the attitude that these users have towards their online safety. The survey however shows over half (52%) of people affected haven’t had all their stolen money returned.
“Cybercriminals are continually looking for new ways to exploit and defraud consumers and that’s why it’s important for Internet users to be on their guard at all times,” says Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky, Head of the Anti-Malware Research Team at Kaspersky Lab. “Cybercriminals can conduct financial crimes via malware, phishing and more. Don’t assume you will always get all your money back if you become a target and funds are stolen from you. The best way to safeguard your finances online is to make sure you don’t become a victim, and for that we recommend specialist software that protects your identity and keeps sensitive data out of the hands of the cybercriminals.”
Kaspersky Safe Money, one of key features of Kaspersky Lab home products, such as Kaspersky Total Security, is a financial security suite of technologies, designed to protect the online financial operations of users with three core principles — trusted site, trusted connection and trusted environment. This solution’s ability to effectively protect users against financial threats has been approved by many independent researchers.
