Saudis the most subjected to electronic crimes

The percentage of adult Saudis who were victims to electronic crimes last year reached 49% of internet users inside the kingdom compared to 46% worldwide.

The financial losses victims of these crimes sustained amounted to 2.6 billion riyals in Saudi and 110 billion US dollars across the world, the Saudi newspaper al-Watan reported.

The loss sustained by each victim during the same time was estimated at 730 riyals locally and 197 US dollars internationally.

According to lecturer Hala Yelli, 40% of Saudi users of social networking websites living in the kingdom were victims to electronic while this percentage reached 39% on the international level.

“The percentage of internet users were subjected to piracy and identity theft reached 8% in Saudi and 10% internationally,” she said in a lecture she gave to a group of female students as part of the Ministry of Communications Program for the Propagation of Digital Knowledge in the city of Taif.

Yelli added that 52% of Saudis are not aware of the damage malware can inflict on their computers and this percentage is estimated at 40% worldwide.

“Around 45% of Saudis do not use passwords that are strong enough and rarely change their passwords compared to 40% worldwide.”

According to a study conducted by Norton for antivirus software, the percentage of Saudis who were victims to electronic crimes via social networking website or mobile phones reached 20%, compared to 21% worldwide.

The study added that 29% of Saudis received text messages from an unknown number and opened links or called numbers mentioned in those messages. On the other hand, 31% of internet users across the world fell in the same trap.