Almost half of Australian internet users experienced cybercrime in past year: Report

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - A new government report released on Thursday has found nearly half of Australians online were victims of cybercrime in the past 12 months, with online abuse, identity theft, malware, and scams among the most common issues.

The report, compiled by the Australian Institute of Criminology based on surveys of over 10,000 internet users, found that 47.4% of respondents said they had been a victim of a cybercrime in the preceding 12 months, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

About 27% of respondents said they had been a victim of online abuse and harassment, 20.6% of malware, and 21.9% identity crime and misuse.

Almost two-thirds of respondents, 63.9%, said they had been a victim of at least one cybercrime in their lifetime.

The most common type of fraud and scams reported over the past one year was victims paying money or providing sensitive information when they were trying to buy a product or service from a fake or fraudulent seller online.

The survey found that 50.7% of respondents used different passwords for secure online accounts in 2024, down from 53.2% in 2023.

The prevalence of online abuse and harassment, malware and fraud and scams victimization was lower among the 2024 respondents compared to the previous survey. There was also a significant decrease in data breaches, the report added.

* Writing by Aamir Latif.