The survey shared opinions of over 1,200 American respondents
Half of US consumers encountered COVID-19 vaccines misinformation. Source: pexels.com
According to Sift, fraud accounted for 59% of blocked malicious content created by users on the Sift network in Q1 2021.
Other most common types of blocked content scams include irrelevant content (22% unrelated to the topic in question), toxic (18%, includes profanity, harassment, hate speech or intimidation), and commercial (1%, requests against terms of service).
Decreased transaction volumes, new digital shopping methods and services, and increased attack volumes in many markets during the pandemic contributed to a 77% increase in content-blocked fraud in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
Other key survey findings include incidents of fraudulent content, with approximately 27% of consumers surveyed reporting daily or weekly handling of fraudulent content. According to the respondents, the most common types of fraudulent content are spam (51%) and fraud (50%) with misinformation and “fake news”, taking third place (43%).
Moreover, misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines occurred: 50% of consumers surveyed say they have encountered COVID-19 scam or misinformation. In this group, 61% said the fraud involved misinformation about the effectiveness or side effects of COVID-19 vaccines. Also 61% say they are related to misinformation about vaccines containing tracking technology, and 28% have encountered fake vaccination cards or passports.
In addition to this, more than half of the consumers surveyed said they would stop making purchases from the company if malicious content was found on the brand’s website. Particularly, 56% say they will stop using a site or service if fake or misleading content is found, and 54% say they will stop using it if they are tricked into sharing personal information.
Besides it, the respondents also identified the places on the network where they encounter the most content fraud. These include social networking sites (61%), classifieds (28%), dating sites (24%), marketplaces (21%), and crowdfunding sites (15%).
We’ve reported that pandemic accelerated use of tech products despite slowing other economic sectors.
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