60% of victims don't report online scams

The majority of Dutch who fall victim to an online scam don't report it to the police or their banks, largely because they considered the money they lost too little for the hassle, according to a study Statistics Netherlands did with the police.

In 2018 the stats office questioned 100 thousand people about their experiences with online shopping over the past 12 months. 38 thousand responded to the questions. 2.9 percent of the respondents indicated that they fell victim to an online scam in that period. Only 4 in 10 of the victims reported the scam to the police or another authority, like the fraud help desk or their bank.

In the most cases, the scam happened while purchasing items from a second-hand site. In 41.5 percent of the cases, the victim never received the item they bought on such a site. 24.4 percent of victims fell victim to a fake online shop. 16.3 percent had things go wrong on a legitimate online store. And 6.5 percent said they were scammed on social media. The scams largely involved the purchase of physical items like clothing or cellphones. In 5 percent of the cases, it involved tickets to a concert or other type of event. 0.2 percent of victims said they were scammed while selling something - they never received payment for the item sold.

Nearly all victims of online scams lost money. Only 10 percent got the money compensated. The scams also had other consequences - 39 percent of victims said it made them really angry, 12 percent kept thinking about it, and 5 percent said it affected their sleep. 35 percent of victims also said they now have less confidence in digital security, and 8.9 percent now have less confidence in their own digital skills.