It is no secret that online scams and fraud attempts are on the rise, but a recent survey conducted by Incogni revealed that a shocking proportion of Americans are being faced with them. According to the findings in this report, around 90% of Americans faced some kind of fraud or phishing attempt this past year, which includes scam emails as well as robocalls. Additionally, data and account breaches have increased by 2% quarter over quarter.
In the first quarter of 2022, around 450 accounts had their details and data exposed every single minute. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this figure has increased to 459 per minute, which is 2% higher than what was seen in the previous quarter. This is leading to a lot of mistrust among consumers, with 70% of Americans who participated in this survey stating that there should be more regulatory oversight for companies that are using their data.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, around 62% of survey respondents said that they have never told a company to remove their personal information from their servers. Doing so is important because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up giving you a legal basis for taking action against the company if they don’t comply. In most states in the US, companies have to delete your data if you ask them to, so this is a useful tactic that most consumers don’t seem to be aware of with all things having been considered and taken into account.
One thing that might make users hesitant to approach a company for data removal is that these corporate entities intentionally make the process labyrinthine and time consuming. They do this because losing the data would be a serious blow to them, and many consumers are forced to turn to agencies in the private sector who can track down their private data and remove it for a fee.
Paying private companies for something like this is not sustainable, so it should come as no surprise that consumers are eager to see more regulations from the government. More consumers should start asking for data since this can put pressure on companies and force them to change their policies, but without government oversight it will be difficult to elicit positive change.
The concerns that so many Americans have about their online privacy are warranted given the widespread data breaches that have occurred. Social media platforms have also been quite heavy handed with how they use and distribute user data.
Read next: Vishing Scam Rates Are Getting Triple of Phishing Scams And Scammers are on the loose freely
In the first quarter of 2022, around 450 accounts had their details and data exposed every single minute. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this figure has increased to 459 per minute, which is 2% higher than what was seen in the previous quarter. This is leading to a lot of mistrust among consumers, with 70% of Americans who participated in this survey stating that there should be more regulatory oversight for companies that are using their data.
In spite of the fact that this is the case, around 62% of survey respondents said that they have never told a company to remove their personal information from their servers. Doing so is important because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up giving you a legal basis for taking action against the company if they don’t comply. In most states in the US, companies have to delete your data if you ask them to, so this is a useful tactic that most consumers don’t seem to be aware of with all things having been considered and taken into account.
One thing that might make users hesitant to approach a company for data removal is that these corporate entities intentionally make the process labyrinthine and time consuming. They do this because losing the data would be a serious blow to them, and many consumers are forced to turn to agencies in the private sector who can track down their private data and remove it for a fee.
Paying private companies for something like this is not sustainable, so it should come as no surprise that consumers are eager to see more regulations from the government. More consumers should start asking for data since this can put pressure on companies and force them to change their policies, but without government oversight it will be difficult to elicit positive change.
The concerns that so many Americans have about their online privacy are warranted given the widespread data breaches that have occurred. Social media platforms have also been quite heavy handed with how they use and distribute user data.
Read next: Vishing Scam Rates Are Getting Triple of Phishing Scams And Scammers are on the loose freely
