Nearly half of Australians think they can identify scams from spelling or grammar mistakes

Trend Micro has published the results of a study of 1072 Australians aged between 18 and 65, which uncovered numerous misconceptions about scams that make people more susceptible to falling for them.

The study showed that just under half (47%) of respondents think they can identify online scams simply by spotting grammar or spelling mistakes in messages or emails. This is an issue as the use of AI in these scams becomes more prevalent, with AI able to not only spell and grammar check but also craft messages that can easily fool the reader.

Other findings included:

• 31% of Australian consumers believe that it is only when they overshare personal information online that they will be susceptible to online scams. There are other ways to be scammed, especially with the increased prevalence of data breaches and criminals being able to obtain your personal information that way.
• Effectively, a third (32%) also underestimate the effectiveness of AI in manipulating images. You do not have to share explicit images or videos online to fall victim to an extortion scam.

Worldwide, consumers lost over $1 trillion to scams in just the last year, but only 15% of consumers discuss scam attempts with family or friends, something that needs to change.

It is not just old folks being scammed either, and even though 78% of consumers know and agree this to be the case, more than half think that it is older individuals that are targeted by romance scams. This is not the case, with everyone susceptible to some degree to these and other scams.

Trend Micro is committed to addressing this problem with Trend Micro ScamCheck helping consumers identify scams and other AI threats, improving scam education, soon to include a series of webinars dedicated to fighting scams, and collaborating with large anti-scam organisations to discover improved ways to fight scams.

Scams are something we should all be aware of and be educated about, especially with the rise in the availability of AI. If you are unsure at all, then maybe you should be looking into checking out the upcoming webinars from Trend Micro — no one wants to lose money this way.