Students most vulnerable to online fraud: report

School students are the most vulnerable group in online fraud schemes, accounting for over 40 percent of victims, a research report has shown.

The report by Liewang, an online fraud report platform jointly sponsored by Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau and the 360 Internet Security Center, found that the "post-00s generation," those born after 2000, had become a new target of online fraud schemes.

This group account for only 0.7 percent of all reported online fraud on the platform in 2014, but grew to 15.8 percent last year.

The report said the results were based on analysis of over 115,000 valid reports collected by the platform as well as the 45 million phishing websites dealt with by the 360 Internet Security Center over the last five years.

The report revealed that in 2018, a victim's average financial loss caused by online fraud was 24,476 yuan (US$3,618).

It also found older generations, although a smaller group in terms of total victims, suffered the greatest financial losses.

On average, each "post-60s generation" victim was swindled out of 67,985 yuan by online fraudsters last year, it said.

According to the report, although many victims claimed to be harmed both financially and mentally, about 60 percent chose not to report their case to police.

The platform therefore stressed that timely reports from victims were necessary as they help the authorities effectively solve cases and prevent further crimes.