Survey: Nearly half of online fraud due to clicking too fast

AMSTERDAM, 1 November 2023 – Nearly half (44%) of online fraud cases in the Netherlands can be prevented if potential victims refrain from taking immediate action. This insight was gleaned from a survey, commissioned by ABN AMRO and carried out by research agency Ipsos, among a representative group of 500 victims of online fraud. Fraudsters persuade their victims to click as quickly as possible, exploiting the very human inclination to respond to an urgent situation with an immediate reaction rooted in emotion. The research results show that in these situations the victim’s judgement is temporarily impaired. If people are aware of this and take a little more time before responding, many hundreds of thousands of fraud cases can be prevented each year, according to the bank.

The survey’s key findings are:

• 44 percent of victims indicate that they clicked too quickly, thereby opening the door to fraud

• 55 percent of victims state that if they had waited a little longer, they would have noticed something was amiss

• 66 percent of victims started looking for information immediately after the damage had been done

• 48 percent of victims explain their behaviour by stating that they wanted to act fast and so did not check the facts of the situation

Under pressure, emotions override common sense

Online fraudsters are masters at creating a false sense of urgency. If a supposed friend or family member contacts you saying they have an acute financial problem and need money to book the last flight home, you naturally want to help them right away. By the time you find out the person was a fraudster posing as someone you know, the damage has been done. Nearly four in ten victims (37%) indicate that they felt pressure – especially time pressure – when they were defrauded. Half of victims (48%) indicate they wanted to act fast and so did not check the facts of the situation.

“When sensing urgency, the human brain is inclined to act as fast as possible,” consumer psychologist Patrick Wessels explains. “Emotions often have the upper hand in primary reactions like this. If you step back from the situation and take some time, the emotion subsides, and you’re more likely to recognise attempted fraud.”

If you take your time, you run less risk of being scammed

What the research results also show is that victims are persuaded to take immediate action. Over half (55%) of victims of online fraud indicate that they would probably have noticed something was amiss if they had taken a bit more time. By not acting right away but taking a little time to check whether something is real or fake, you can save yourself a lot of distress. The research suggests that rational thinking takes control again within just a few moments: two thirds of victims of online fraud (66%) indicated that they became suspicious and started looking for information right after they fell for the fraud.

“It’s important to realise that very few situations require you to act immediately,” says Neiske Ritsma, Project Lead for Fraud and Secure Banking at ABN AMRO. “Fraudsters like to make you think the situation is extremely urgent, but waiting a few seconds rather than acting immediately can save you a lot of distress. The extra time you take is crucial to realise that a situation may be fake. That’s why we’ve launched an information campaign with the slogan ‘This can’t wait? Don’t take the bait!’ And we’re also giving clients tips to distinguish what’s real and what’s fake.”

About the research

The research, commissioned by ABN AMRO, was carried out in October 2023 by research agency Ipsos. Ipsos surveyed 500 Dutch nationals who fell victim to online fraud in the past two years. This sample is representative of Dutch victims of financial fraud aged over 18 in terms of gender, age and region