Research by G DATA, the innovative pioneer in the field of IT security, shows that no less than 79 percent of the Dutch do not report false text messages. Reporting fake text messages and other forms of cybercrime is crucial as it allows investigation of the perpetrators. All reports together make it possible to combine information and provide insight into the behavior of cyber criminals. The more information, the greater the chance that an investigation can be successfully completed.
The research, which was conducted among 1500 Dutch and Belgians, shows that most Dutch people who receive a fake text message take little or no action. 52 percent only delete the message and 17.5 percent of the recipients do nothing at all. It is striking that young people more often take no action compared to older people. No less than 40 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 24 do nothing at all, while this is only 11 percent among older target groups (55+ years). There is also a big difference when asked whether participants would recognize a fake text message. More than 80 percent of the young and middle-aged groups (18-44 years old) think they would recognize a fake text message. In the older age group (45+ years) this is only 41 percent.
The participants were also asked how many fake text messages they received in the past year. Most participants (57%) received between 1 and 4 messages, of which 34% received between 2-4 messages and 22 percent one message. Some participants received more than 4 fake text messages, 16 percent received between 5-10 messages, and 6 percent reported receiving more than 10 fake text messages. Fortunately, there were also participants (26%) who did not receive a fake text message.
Nearly 20% indicated that they would (probably) not recognize a fake text message. Most of the fake messages that the Dutch participants received were in the name of a bank (61%), the postal service (55%), the tax authorities (29%), credit card company (16%) or collection agency (14%). In Belgium these proportions were different. They received the most messages in the name of the postal service (95%), bank (55%), or tax authorities (35%). It is striking that the Belgian participants (17%) received more false text messages about COVID-19. In the Netherlands, only 4% of the participants received such a text message.
“Fake text messages are becoming more and more common and are the perfect tool for a phishing attack. After all, the smartphone is an indispensable link in our digital life and contains a lot of valuable data for cyber criminals. Nevertheless, this research underlines that we still greatly underestimate mobile cyber risks,” said Eddy Willems, security evangelist at G DATA CyberDefense. “Especially for organizations, it is crucial to use the right security technology and to continuously train employees on the risks. In addition, it is important to always report fake text messages and inform the organization whose name has been misused. It is possible to file a report via fraudehelpdesk.nl. After all, a lack of insight into the extent of cybercrime makes it more difficult for the police and security companies to recognize trends and track down the perpetrators.”
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