A new survey reveals the widespread impact of cybercrime in Switzerland: one in seven adults reports having been scammed online. Of these, a third lost more than 1,000 francs. The study, also shows that only a third of victims reported the incident to the police. Even among those who suffered significant financial loss, fewer than half filed a complaint.
Official statistics reported over 59,000 cybercrime offenses last year, but the real figure is likely much higher due to underreporting. Younger people are more frequently affected than seniors, largely because of their heavier reliance on online shopping. The most common scams involve fake online stores (38%) and phishing attacks (33%). Public concern is high: nearly 80% of respondents see cybercrime as a major societal threat, particularly when it comes to attacks on infrastructure, online scams, and disinformation.
Analysis from our experts
This data illustrates how deeply cybercrime has embedded itself into daily life. What’s striking is not only the prevalence of scams, but the gap between victimization and response. The reluctance to report, especially when significant amounts of money are lost, suggests a mix of embarrassment, resignation, and lack of trust in available recourse mechanisms. The predominance of low-sophistication schemes like fake shops and phishing shows that technical complexity is no longer necessary to be effective; scale and psychological manipulation are enough. The fact that younger adults are more frequently targeted reflects their increased exposure rather than a lack of awareness. As online commerce grows, so does the attack surface.
Until online fraud is met with the same social reflex as physical theft (reporting, tracing, reacting) it will continue to flourish beneath the threshold of visibility.
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