A new global survey has found that people now feel more exposed online than they do in their own homes, as artificial intelligence accelerates the scale and sophistication of scams.
The Harris Poll, commissioned by Mastercard, surveyed 13,077 adults across 13 countries and found seven in ten respondents believe protecting their digital information is harder than securing their home.
Cyberattacks inflicted an estimated US$9.5 trillion in losses and damages, which is enough to make cybercrime the world’s third-largest economy last year.
Seventy-six percent of respondents said they are more concerned about cyber risks than they were two years ago, with more than half thinking about online security at least once a week.
“If people feel more vulnerable in the virtual world than in their own homes, that signals that the trust in the technology that governs our lives is under threat, and there’s work to be done to achieve the full promise of the digital economy,” said Johan Gerber, Mastercard’s global head of Security Solutions.
Forty-three percent of Gen Z and 39% of millennials reported engaging with scam attempts, compared with 22% of Gen X and 14% of boomers.
Gen Z were least likely to check sender details or use security tools. Boomers, meanwhile, were less inclined to enable biometric logins or review privacy settings.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents said they would feel ashamed if scammed, and about half would be embarrassed to tell anyone. Experts note this stigma helps explain why romance and online scams are so often underreported.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents believe AI will make it impossible to tell what is real and what is fake online, and only 13% feel “very confident” in detecting AI-generated scams. About half of Gen Z and millennials said they trust AI-based security systems more than human oversight, while boomers were far more sceptical.
“An AI-powered economy can only usher greater growth and deeper connection if we work together to make trust and security inseparable from innovation,” Gerber said. “Organisations that weave trust and security into every layer of technology will be the ones that thrive.”
Experts warn that if consumers lose faith in digital platforms, the cost will be borne by businesses as well. The survey found 66% of people would stop shopping with a retailer after experiencing a fraudulent transaction, a blow that smaller firms may struggle to recover from.
“Trust cannot be an afterthought,” Gerber added. “It must be the foundation of our digital lives.”