Two in five are cyber crime victims

Two in five residents have been victims of cybercrime, according to data revealed by telecommunications company du.

DUBAI // Two out of five residents have been victims of cyber crime, a survey by telecommunications company du suggests.

And Hala Badri, du’s executive vice president, said that by 2021 there would be 16 times as many people using social media.

“So you can imagine the number of hours people will spend on social media,” Ms Badri said at the launch of du’s first public service campaign, #PostWisely.

“There’s a thirst to be on these platforms and it’s a growing concern.”

Of 1,000 UAE residents, about 460 spend more than two hours a day on social media, with 430 on at least eight social platforms more than once a day.

“These are shocking statistics,” Ms Badri said. “One thing that opened my eyes to this subject is personal experience because I’m very active on social media, and I post family and work information as well as where I go, eat, travel and my entire life.”

The survey was conducted after colleagues showed her how social media sites revealed where she lived, her children’s school and her weekend activities.

“What scared me is these people could connect with my children and add them just because they found out they had a connection with me, so it’s that easy to gain their trust,” Ms Badri said.

“I saw an opportunity in this that we need to do something about it. The campaign is about making people aware of their behaviour and change it.”

The survey found 75 per cent of respondents accepted friendships with people on Facebook they did not know, and 30 per cent of them shared information.

“We’re not saying don’t share, we’re saying share the right stuff, not family information or anything that makes you vulnerable to cyber crime, which is a growing concern in the UAE,” she said.

“We’ve created a series of public service announcements. The first is about robbery and cyber crime. The second is on how safe your kids are online, and we’re hoping people rethink how they behave and what they post.”

Lawyer Huda AlFalamarzi said posting locations could end badly. “One mother lost her daughter recently and a man had kidnapped her. We have security but people put in their location.”

Amna Al Mutawaa, a councillor from the Dubai Establishment for Women and Children, said there had been up to five cases a month of sexual exploitation online in the UAE since 2008.

“Sexual content is very common and the Dubai Police is working on it,” Ms Al Mutawaa said. “We need to set a standard and have statistics about what is an obsession.

“We need evidence-based research because addiction is very harmful and it has psychological, social and physiological negative impacts.”

Other data revealed that 22 per cent of respondents had more than 500 friends on Facebook while half had a public Facebook profile. Fifty-three per cent had a public Instagram account and 68 per cent had a public Twitter account.

Facebook was found to be the most widely used social media platform for meeting people, with 72 per cent of respondents using it for that purpose.

Another 58 per cent of people shared friends’ pictures on social media, while half shared family pictures and 39 per cent checked in at their location.

Two in five parents reported their children having social media accounts, almost all of which claim to monitor their children’s Facebook accounts, and 79 per cent their Instagram accounts.

Almost all social media users surveyed reported that they had received at least one cyber attack and 31 per cent said they posted something online that they later regretted.

“Parents should take care of their children for 24 hours without pushing them,” said Ms AlFalamarzi, of Al Hashimi Law Firm and Legal Consultancy. “Don’t show them what you have and don’t share private information.”