1.2 million cybercrime victims

(English subtitles available)

The Cybersecurity & Cybercrime survey is a new pilot study conducted by CBS in collaboration with the Dutch national police force at the end of 2018. In total, 100 thousand people were approached for this research, of whom more than 38 thousand participated.

Young people most susceptible

At 12 percent, young internet users between the ages of 12 and 25 were most likely to fall victim to cybercrime. Among the over-65s, this share was less than 4 percent.

Mainly property crimes

Property crimes – crimes relating to money or property theft - affected 4.6 percent of the internet users. Hacking affected 1.8 percent. Another 1.4 percent of internet users were victims of interpersonal incidents with no sexual connection while 0.7 percent fell victim to such incidents with a sexual connection. These included incidents of a personal nature, such as defamation, bullying, stalking or threats. One percent fell victim to identity theft without incurring financial loss.

The share of men falling victim to cybercrime was just as large as that of women. However, property crimes were reported more often by men, while interpersonal incidents occurred more often among women.

Online shopping fraud most common type of property crime

Within the category of property crimes, online shopping fraud was most prevalent among cybercrime victims: 2.7 percent. Victims paid for services or goods that were never delivered. In 0.5 percent of the cases, money was taken from the victim’s bank account or victims ended up paying a fake invoice. Cybercrime cases further included 0.5 percent incidents of Wangiri fraud - a type of phone fraud.

Interpersonal incidents mainly linked to defamation and stalking

Interpersonal incidents mainly included cases of defamation: 1 percent with no sexual connection and 0.3 percent with a sexual connection. Stalking is also seen relatively often at 0.5 percent (no sexual connection) and 0.4 percent (with a sexual connection). These incidents were most likely to affect young people, women in particular.

Nearly one-quarter of shopping fraud incidents reported to the police

Cybercrime victims were also asked if they had reported the incidents to the police. The frequency of these reports varies greatly between the various types of cybercrime. In case of shopping fraud and identity theft without financial loss, nearly one-quarter of incidents were reported to the police. Hacking incidents were reported by fewer than 3 percent and interpersonal incidents by 10 percent. Important reasons for victims not to file a statement or to report to the police included the idea that it would not help or that it was not significant enough.