Half of young Europeans have already been involved in cybercrime

Almost half of young Europeans have been involved in at least one form of cybercrime, and 70% admit to engaging in criminal, deviant or dangerous behavior online, according to an international study.

The CC-DRIVER European Youth Survey 2021 includes responses from almost eight thousand young people aged 16 to 19 from the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Norway.

This is the first major investigation in which young people are not seen as victims of the digital world, but as possible aggressors, stressed Tito de Morais, founder of the MiúdosSegurosNa.Net project, who invited the researchers responsible for the study to take part in the international study. conference in Porto.

A survey conducted in the summer of 2021 shows a high prevalence of cybercrime and cyberdeviance among young people.

The investigation identified situations involving crime, such as piracy or stalking, as well as other relationships that could put adolescents at risk, such as the distribution of pornographic materials.

20 key behaviors were selected, of which 13 were cybercriminals and the remaining seven were deviant attitudes or dangerous activities such as “sexting” or sharing violent images.

Nearly half of respondents (47.76%) admitted to committing some form of cybercrime between summer 2020 and summer 2021.

The most common crime was digital piracy: every third young person admitted to it.

But there are also many who frequent illegal gambling markets (a fifth) or accept money laundering or transport money from one place to another.

“Every eighth young person worked as a money mule,” Tito de Morais emphasized. This is followed by hate speech, “cyberbullying” or “hacking”, which is practiced by about 10% of young people.

One in 11 young people admitted to engaging in phishing scams to obtain personal information from third parties, sharing intimate content without authorization, engaging in online fraud, engaging in identity theft, or making racist or xenophobic comments.

The research also shows that one in 13 young people have been involved in online sexual extortion situations.

But not all risky behaviors are classified as crimes, especially since most were involved in activities considered deviant or risky (69.1%).

One in five admitted to exchanging erotic messages (“sexting”) or sharing violent material, but many more people followed someone online without that person’s knowledge (“stalking”) or deliberately upset someone online (“stalking”). trolling”).

Another common behavior was sending spam or sexually suggestive messages (one in seven).

Young Portuguese were not surveyed, but Tito de Morais believes the national reality should not be much different, especially since the study found that “there are no major differences among young people in nine countries.”

“The Internet equalizes the situation. What happens in other countries also happens here, but it was important to carry out a national study on this issue,” defended Tito de Morais in an interview with Lusa.

As in the offline world, boys are more likely (74%) to engage in cybercrime or find themselves in dangerous situations than girls (65%), and there are more cases among young people with a history of offline crime. “Misdemeanor.”

The researchers note that adolescence, by definition, is a time in life when people are more attracted to danger, and the study shows that the majority of participants had been in dangerous online spaces.

The research also highlights the high percentage of young people (37.8%) who spend the equivalent of a working day in front of a screen, which is at least eight hours a day.

Just 11.6% are online for less than three hours a day, and nearly half spend between four and seven hours on their digital devices.

Among young people, it is normal to have multiple accounts on one platform (about 67%), one more public and open to everyone, and others for more limited groups, which the researchers say indicates “hidden social media use.”

Almost half of respondents (46.8%) believe that dangerous behavior online has increased due to restrictions and isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.