Public wi-fi hotspots ripe for fraud

The Federal Trade Commission reports 57,838 complaints of identity theft and fraud in North Carolina in 2014. How safe do people think they are?

According to the 2016 AARP Cyber Security survey, adults age 18 and older would be more favorable toward a coffee shop, bookstore, hotel, or other public location that offers free public Wi-Fi if they provided users with information on how to protect themselves from cyber scams. Seven-in-ten survey respondents believe that locations offering free public Wi-Fi should display information on the risks associated with using public Wi-Fi, and the majority feel that free public Wi-Fi is only somewhat safe or not very safe at all.

Key findings include the following:

• More than 70 percent of public Wi-Fi users access Facebook or their personal email.
• Seventy percent  of public Wi-Fi users say they don’t recall the public location providing any information about how to protect yourself from cyber scams.
• Seventy percent  of users think locations offering free public Wi-Fi should display information on the risks associated with using public Wi-Fi to shop, bank, or access social media sites.
• Two-thirds of users would be more favorable toward a coffee shop, bookstore, hotel, or other public location that offered free public Wi-Fi if they provided users with information on how to protect themselves from cyber scams.

The 2016 AARP Cyber Security Survey was conducted as a random digit dial telephone survey among adults age 18 and older across the nation.

Protect yourselves with AARP's Fraud Watch Network

Get the latest information on how to protect yourselves from scams that are targeting North Carolinians at www.aarp.org/fraudwatchnetwork