80% Indians faced tech support scam, 22% lost money: Report

Eighty per cent of people in India have experienced a tech support scam, 32 per cent continued with the scam and 22 per cent of them lost money, a new survey revealed on Wednesday.

The survey by Microsoft and marketing consultant Ipsos Public Affairs found that globally, two out of three people surveyed have experienced a tech support scam.

"One out of five was tricked into continued engagement with scammers, often leading to victims losing hundreds of dollars to the fraudsters," noted the survey which was conducted as part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month in 12 countries with nearly 1,000 people from each country.

"Traditionally, scammers made unsolicited phone calls to potential victims but today, they are increasingly moving online, using emails, websites and pop-up windows to scare people into engaging," the results highlighted.

With new tactics, scammers are not only reaching a larger portion of the population but also targeting new consumers.

The survey highlighted that adults older than 55 are no longer the most vulnerable and millennials (between ages 18-34) are outpacing them because of their inherent trust in, and use of, technology.

"Since millennials are generally less suspicious of technology intrusions, they are more likely to accept and engage in the scam, not realising their mistake until it is too late and the cybercriminals have access to their devices and personal information," the study pointed out.

Recently, after a successful year-long pilot, Microsoft India launched a full-scale Cybersecurity Engagement Centre (CSEC) in India.

The centre is India's first and Microsoft's seventh cybersecurity Centre globally.