By Ben Havers, PhD Candidate at the Dawes Centre for Future Crime, University College London
The UK has an ageing population; the Office for National Statistics (ONS, 2024) has predicted that the number of people aged 85 and over will increase from 1.6 million (2.5% of the total population) to 2.6 million (3.5%) over the next 15 years. Concerningly, a recent Age UK report (2024) revealed that more than one in three over 65s lack the basic skills to use the internet successfully. This would suggest that the number of older adults ill-equipped to deal with online threats is set to grow.
This blog describes a recent study conducted by Ben Havers (University College London) and colleagues, including Professor Sally McManus from VISION, exploring how cybercrime victimisation, repeat victimisation and financial impact are associated with age and other sociodemographic and health-related characteristics.
The authors analysed data from the 2019-2020 Crime Survey for England and Wales, an annual national crime victimisation survey carried out by the ONS. The survey is administered via face-to-face interviews with more than 35,000 adults across England and Wales. Participants are asked whether they have been a victim of crime in the past 12 months, and other personal information on topics such as housing, work and health.
Some of the key findings of the study were:
- People aged 75+ were most likely to experience repeat cybercrime victimisation and associated financial loss than younger demographics.
- Men were more likely to experience victimisation and repeat victimisation than women. A plausible explanation is that men, who have been found to take more risks than women generally (Hudgens & Fatkin, 1985), may also engage in riskier behaviour or activities online, leaving them more vulnerable to malicious actors.
- People of Black and mixed/multiple ethnicity were more likely to be cybercrime victims than participants of White ethnicity. Research on the drivers behind ethnic disparities in crime victimisation in the UK and abroad is limited. Salisbury and Upson’s ( 2004) crime survey analysis found that people of Black and minority ethnicity are more likely than White people to fall victim to crime in general. Future research might explore differing patterns and types of internet use, and systemic disadvantages, for example linguistic barriers to safe cyber navigation.
- Worse cognitive, physical, mental and general health were associated with greater risk, across the ages. This relationship is likely to be bidirectional as poor health might increase the risk of cybercrime (Abdelhamid, 2020) and being a victim of cybercrime may worsen mental health (Rhoads, 2023).
The findings from this study indicate that future developments in online platform and process design, as well as multi-agency collaboration and information sharing, should focus on (a) empowering older adults to detect fraudulent activity before loss is incurred, and (b) removing barriers to reporting so that support can be provided before the individual is victimised a second or third time.
To read or download the article for free: Cybercrime victimisation among older adults: A probability sample survey in England and Wales | PLOS ONE
To cite: Havers, B., Tripathi, K., Burton, A., McManus, S., & Cooper, C. (2024). Cybercrime victimisation among older adults: A probability sample survey in England and Wales. PLOS ONE, 19(12), e0314380. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314380
Or for further information, please contact Ben at benjamin.havers.20@ucl.ac.uk
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