Romantic Breakups Are Leaving Too Many People Vulnerable To Creepy Behavior: Report

Moneylife Digital Team 16 February 2023

A new study suggests that many Americans are playing things a little too loose online when it comes to attitudes about breakups – especially younger Americans, says a report from ConsumerAffairs.com.

According to the report, a survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Norton, reveals that Gen Z (ages 18-25) and Millennials (ages 26-42) have "concerningly relaxed" attitudes about online stalking, and over one-third say they really don't care if they're being stalked online by a current or former partner, just as long as they're not being stalked in-person. These percentages are more than three times higher than what older adults (age 58+) reported.

And once a relationship is kaput, 80% of the respondents said they didn't change their passwords, leaving themselves even more vulnerable. The GenZ'ers lead the way in that metric, with more than a third saying have shared passwords with their ex – something that may come back to haunt them once Netflix starts to put some teeth into its password-sharing pushback.

"This research is a wake-up call. The fact that so many Gen Z and Millennials think online stalking is acceptable tells us that more needs to be done to educate younger generations about the dangers," said Kevin Roundy, senior technical director of Norton Labs.

"There is an important distinction between curiosity, such as searching someone up online to learn more about them, versus invading someone's privacy or stalking. These attitudes and behaviours are a slippery slope that could place people in real danger, whether the stalking is online or in-person."

Lookin' for love in all the wrong places

Norton's study also threw some shade on people who are looking for their true love online. One in four Americans (25%) admitted that they have been the victim of an online dating or romance scam. And that number could go even higher as cybercriminals continue to favor catfishing scams, lurking in places like dating sites where they can get away with an average of $230 per victim.

"Difficult, maybe impossible to distinguish paid members who can reply to a message from free members who cannot," Scotty of Joshua Tree, CA wrote in their review of OurTime. "Way too many likes and messages from people living hundreds, even thousands of miles away. Have been instantly blocked by too many members after only mentioning fake profiles or catfishing."

Continue Reading…

Courtesy: ConsumerAffairs.com

Comments

User

adityag

7 months ago

The most fashionable thing is to publish "research reports" based on limited datasets. Apparently, it's "science journalism". The so called "study" is buried 3 hyperlinks inside this article, and based on 1001 individuals, without any regard for biases. Wonderful. Some statistic voodoo to bring the data "into line", and they came up with this study. That's all I needed to know. Translation: meaningless report.

saharaaj

7 months ago

In India it is motivated hunt . stalking and frauding would be highest.. here girls are too eager to get married cheaply and at earliest FOMO