Online scammers on the prowl; GenZ most susceptible

Half of adults in the Philippines have been targeted by digital fraudsters and one of every five of them has fallen prey to those online scammers, with the younger Generation Z cohort turning out to be the most susceptible, based on a research by multinational credit reporting firm TransUnion.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, only about six to seven out of every 100 Filipinos reported being victimized by digital fraudsters, who have become more aggressive and sophisticated in the last two years of lockdowns, TransUnion president and CEO Pia Arellano said in an interview with Inquirer on Tuesday.

Arellano discussed some highlights of TransUnion’s Philippines Consumer Pulse Study, which surveyed 1,089 adults in the country to gauge the financial impact of COVID-19 on consumers.

The latest quarterly study was conducted from Nov. 1 to Nov. 8, 2021, with respondents ranging from different demographics from Gen Z (born 1995-2003), Generation Y or millennials (born 1980-1994), Generation X (born 1965-1979), and Baby Boomers (born 1944-1964).

The research showed that digital fraud continued to be a significant worry, especially around the holidays, with 95 percent of consumers saying they were concerned about being victimized by digital fraud during the 2021 holiday season.

Across generations, millennials and Gen X were the most targeted at 54 percent and 52 percent, respectively.

About 10 percent of the respondents said they had been “targeted by a fraud scheme and became a victim of it,” up by 4 percentage points from the previous quarter’s survey.

About 40 percent of survey participants said they had been targeted but did not become a victim, down by 2 percentage points from the previous survey. INQ