Malta had one of the highest rates of internet users suffering some kind of fraudulent financial loss in the EU last year.
While the average of those suffering financial losses due to internet use stood at just three per cent in the EU, in Malta this was reported to be five per cent, according to the latest Eurostat report.
Only Latvia (eight per cent) and the UK (seven per cent) had higher rates than Malta, according to the results of an ICT survey published in Brussels ahead of today’s Safer Internet Day.
Financial losses were mostly the result of misuse of credit or debit card information but could also be a consequence of receiving fraudulent messages (phishing) and getting redirected to fake websites asking for personal information (pharming).
The survey shows that half of Maltese internet users last year experienced a virus or computer infection due to internet use, the second highest in the EU following Bulgaria at 58 per cent.
Though computer infections are very common, the EU’s average was much lower than Malta’s and stood at 31 per cent of all users connecting to the internet. The results also show that four per cent of Maltese users said they suffered abuse of personal information through the internet, including unauthorised misuse of pictures.
Meanwhile, two per cent of parents whose children used the internet at home encountered incidents where their children were accessing inappropriate websites or connecting with potentially dangerous people.
The results of this survey indicate that internet use in Malta can be a source of frequent abuse even though many seem to be taking adequate measures: While the use of security software in the EU is used by 84 per cent of internet users, its use rises to 91 per cent in Malta.
On the other hand, Maltese parents are still underestimating the potential risks associated with young children using the net as only nine per cent said they had installed some kind of parental control software on the computers accessed by their kids.
In a statement issued yesterday, Malta’s national social welfare agency, Appoġġ, warned about the different perils children using the internet could encounter and encouraged more awareness about the possible consequence of risky behaviour.