The percentage of people in Malta who have received fraudulent emails or experienced online fraud is relatively high in comparison with the EU average, a Eurobarometer publication says.

Meanwhile, the use of social networking sites in Malta (68%) is among the highest in Europe, with Latvia (69%) and Greece (68%), as well as in Slovakia (66%).

The Cyber Security report, released yesterday, explains that most EU citizens say they have seen or heard something about cybercrime in the last 12 months (73%), and this is most likely to have been from television (59%).

In several countries, around half of respondents say that they have received emails fraudulently asking for money and personal details. Again the figure is high in Malta (53%) and registering at just one percentage point behind the countries with the highest incidence, Denmark and the Netherlands (54%).

The proportion of people who say they have received such emails is also high in Sweden (53%), UK (52%) and Luxembourg (51%). In the UK (21%) and Luxembourg (20%), this happens often.

A good number of respondents in Malta (16%) have said they have experienced online fraud. The average across the EU is 12% and figures do not vary much but in Poland 18% of the people participating in the survey said they were victims of online fraud. Similar figures were registered in Hungary (17%), and UK (16%), while respondents in Greece (3%), Slovenia (6%) and Spain (7%) are least likely to have experienced online fraud.

Most EU citizens do not feel very or at all well-informed about the risks of cybercrime (59%) while 38% say they are very or fairly well informed. The figures are just the same for Malta, showing the need for more information or that the available information is not reaching them. Most EU citizens say they have seen or heard something about cybercrime in the last 12 months, most commonly from television.

There is a clear link between being well informed and feeling confident online. More than half of those who feel confident in their ability to do online banking or buying things online say they feel well informed about cybercrime (59%).

A large part of internet users across the EU say that they are not confident about their ability to use the internet for things like online banking or buying things online. In addition, many respondents say they have changed their behaviour because of security concerns, for example by not giving out personal information or not opening e-mails from unknown sources.

At the same time, the majority of internet users have not changed any of their online passwords during the past year.

More than a third of internet users across the EU say they have received a scam email, and other types of cybercrime have been experienced by a substantial number (albeit a minority) of internet users in the EU, including online fraud and identity theft.

Internet users express high levels of concern about cyber security. The majority agree that the risk of becoming a victim of cybercrime has increased in the past year; that they are concerned that their online personal information is not kept secure by websites; and that they are concerned that information is not kept secure by public authorities.

In addition, around half of respondents or more say they are concerned about experiencing various types of cybercrime, with the highest levels of concern expressed over identity theft.

If they experienced or were the victim of cybercrime, most respondents say they would contact the police, especially if the crime was identity theft or if they accidentally encountered child pornography online. Yet when experiencing child pornography, a high proportion of Maltese respondents (21%) said they would contact no one.

In case they encounter material that promotes racial hatred or religious extremism, only a small proportion of respondents in Malta say they would contact the website or vendor (1%) or internet service provider (5%).

The survey findings suggest that a greater level of knowledge of cybercrime leads to a preference to contact organisations such as the website/vendor or internet service provider rather than the police.

The proportion of respondents undertaking online activities varies considerably by country. In Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands in particular, respondents are more likely to use the internet for buying things and for online banking. They are also more likely to be well informed about the risks of cybercrime, to have made changes to increase security, and to be less concerned about being the victim of this type of crime.

By contrast, in a number of countries such as Portugal and Bulgaria, respondents are much less likely to shop or bank online, are less confident and feel less well informed about the risks of cybercrime.