Pensioners are the best at spotting online scams

Older people are far less likely to fall for internet or phone scams than their younger counterparts, a study shows.

Thirteen per cent of people aged between 18 and 24 admitted losing money to scammers. But just 3 per cent of over-65s said they had been cheated this way.

All 1,000 respondents were asked if they had fallen for a computer support scam over the phone, via email or while surfing the internet. This involves fraudsters posing as IT workers to persuade victims to hand over personal information. The older the respondent, the less likely they were to have been defrauded – all the way up the age scale.

Pensioners have traditionally been seen as the group most likely to fall victim to scams and are frequently warned to be on their guard. The study by Ipsos Public Affairs and Microsoft upends that perception.

Courtney Gregoire, of Microsoft’s digital crimes unit, said: ‘Fraudsters typically have called older people to say their computers have been infected and try to sell them unnecessary tech support but scammers are now using pop-ups, unsolicited email and scam websites and luring younger people.

‘Tech support scams are on the rise around the world and demand urgent attention from law enforcement, private industry and individual consumers.’

According to earlier research by Privilege Insurance, online scams in Britain have risen 53 per cent in the past three years. Scammers typically send emails asking for bank details or PIN numbers, tricking victims into handing them over. One in five lose between £20,000 and £49,999 – but some victims have lost more than £100,000.

Older people with mental health problems are particularly vulnerable and the Alzheimer’s Society says 15 per cent of dementia patients have been victims of cold-calling. Citizens Advice urges those who think they are being scammed never to give out their name or any other personal information.

The Ipsos study covered people in 12 countries, including the UK.