To get an extra discount on a purchase, Dutch people are willing to provide personal information. However, they are hardly aware of the risks. They are twice as likely to be scammed online.
This is according to research conducted by Cint and commissioned by NordVPN (1). From Oct. 25 to 30, the market researcher handed out a questionnaire to residents aged 18 or older from Australia, Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. More than 8,000 respondents took part in the survey.
That the Dutch are real bargain hunters is nothing new under the sun. In fact, we are willing to hand over our personal or privacy-sensitive data to a seller in exchange for a discount, research shows. Most Dutch people have no problem handing out likes on social media (41 percent).
A quarter of those surveyed (25 percent) reveal their home address, one in five respondents (19 percent) reveal their work address. One in ten Dutch people (10 percent) is willing to tell where he works to qualify for discounts. The most notable finding is that 4 percent of those surveyed would give up their credit card information to save money.
Sharing private data for discounts may sound like a good deal at first glance, but we give little or no thought to the consequences. Cint researchers calculated that Dutch people who were willing to tell who their employer is are twice as likely to be scammed. Those who share their credit number are at even greater risk: they are even three times more likely to be conned.
Three in ten Dutch people (30 percent) have been victims of online scams at one time or another. That amounts to about five million Dutch people. "The work of online criminals is made easy by the millions of Dutch consumers who are willing to give up a wealth of personal information in exchange for an extra discount or a freebie. And those who have already been scammed are at the front of the line," Cint warns.
Six million Dutch consumers are considering purchasing products during Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year, according to the market researcher. Dutch people who have ever been scammed while shopping online generally have less knowledge about cybersecurity. They are more willing to share personal information than people who have never been scammed.
Marijus Briedis, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at NordVPN, says all Dutch bargain hunters should be on their guard in the coming period. "If an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is," he warns.
Topman advises everyone to look carefully to see if an online store has security certificates. Then you can be sure that the traffic between your device and the seller's server is encrypted and secure and no personal information is leaked. Furthermore, Briedis advises everyone to only shop at reputable online stores, avoid surfing on public WiFi networks and use a VPN.
A VPN or Virtual Private Network is a tool that establishes an encrypted connection to the Internet. Thanks to a VPN, all your data traffic is sent through a secure "tunnel" to a remote VPN server. This server then makes contact with the website you are trying to visit and sends anonymized data to your devices.
You can also use a VPN to bypass geographical blockades in order to view your favorite streaming service's offerings abroad. Finally, it allows you to mask your location and access independent or shielded information. This is useful for activists in countries with totalitarian regimes, but also for individuals traveling to these countries who want to maintain access to their social media.
ACM and police warn of scams
With the various discount promotions and holidays just around the corner, cybercriminals are pulling out all the stops to deceive gullible consumers. The Autoriteit Consument & Markt ACM) warned of this on Tuesday. The police confirm the trend. Research has shown that the average damage amount doubled last year to 357 euros. Scammers managed to steal over 3.7 million euros from unsuspecting victims so far.
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