Al Arabiya TV reports that the citizens of Saudi Arabia are particularly naive when it comes to online skullduggery. Saudis, the report says, fall prey to online scammers at a higher rate than the world as a whole. Their annual economic losses are put at SR 2.6 billion (US $693 million).

Saudis the most subjected to electronic crimes
Al Arabiya

The percentage of adult Saudis who were victims to electronic crimes last year reached 49% of internet users inside the kingdom compared to 46% worldwide.

The financial losses victims of these crimes sustained amounted to 2.6 billion riyals in Saudi and 110 billion US dollars across the world, the Saudi newspaper al-Watan reported.

The loss sustained by each victim during the same time was estimated at 730 riyals locally and 197 US dollars internationally.

According to lecturer Hala Yelli, 40% of Saudi users of social networking websites living in the kingdom were victims to electronic while this percentage reached 39% on the international level.

“The percentage of internet users were subjected to piracy and identity theft reached 8% in Saudi and 10% internationally,” she said in a lecture she gave to a group of female students as part of the Ministry of Communications Program for the Propagation of Digital Knowledge in the city of Taif.
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