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Opinion · 16 October 2026

A safer online world starts with who is most at risk.

Online criminals target some groups far more than others. October can raise awareness and bring more crucial help to those in need.

By Lindsay McDonald, UtilForge spokesperson

What would it take for Cybersecurity Awareness Month to reach the people that criminals target most? Every October the United States marks the month as a time to reevaluate our collective efforts to make a safer online world. It is led by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the federal cybersecurity agency, and the National Cybersecurity Alliance, a non-profit. The European Union also runs European Cybersecurity Month in October, coordinated by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity and the European Commission with the member states. Both international campaigns treat online safety as a responsibility everyone shares. The evidence from both sides of the Atlantic shows where that shared effort can do the most good.

The losses are large and still rising. In April 2026 the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, which collects reports of online crime, said that Americans had reported losing $20.9 billion to online crime in 2025. That was 26 per cent more than in 2024. The Federal Trade Commission, the United States consumer protection agency, separately told the Joint Economic Committee of Congress in March 2026 that people reported losing $15.9 billion to fraud in 2025.

Three groups stand out in the figures as the demographics most at risk. The first is people aged 60 and over, including pensioners and grandparents. In 2025 they filed about 201,000 complaints with the Internet Crime Complaint Center and reported losses of about $7.7 billion, which is about 37 per cent of all reported losses. The second group is job seekers. According to Federal Trade Commission data published in March 2025, reported losses to fraud involving jobs and employment agencies rose from $90 million in 2020 to $501 million in 2024. In April 2026 the Federal Trade Commission warned that an unexpected job offer sent by text is probably fraudulent, because real employers will never contact people that way. The third vulnerable group is students, and many of them are job seekers too. In June 2025 the Federal Trade Commission described two methods aimed at college students. In the first, a fake job offer asks a student to pay for a starter kit or training. In the second, a criminal posing as a professor or a college office sends a cheque and then asks for part of the money to be passed on.

Painfully, the pattern reaches well beyond the United States. In May 2026 the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, which advises European Union institutions on people’s rights, published a survey of more than 26,000 people across the European Union. It found that one person in four has been a victim of online fraud. A quarter of those victims had been tricked by someone posing as a family member. Only 15 per cent reported the fraud to the police, and 28 per cent said the experience had cost them trust.

Each of these groups is surrounded by people and organisations able to help: families, careers services, universities, banks and community groups. Criminals imitate trusted voices, as the European Union survey found with family members and work contacts, so a warning is stronger when it travels with solutions to safeguard against cybercrime: available tools and guides that help a person check a suspicious message, offer or request first. The Federal Trade Commission advises job seekers to research the company and the recruiter independently, and never to pay anyone to get a job.

Knowledge shared openly makes that help stronger. On 30 September 2026 the Internet Society, a global non-profit that works for an open and secure internet, launched its Online Trust and Safety Hub. It offers free guidance, videos and courses in several languages, for individuals and for the community groups that support them. European Cybersecurity Month reminds people that awareness includes knowing who to ask for help and where to report an incident. Specialist security newsrooms are important resources that carry warnings and research to the online sector and the professionals who build defences. Small organisations such as UtilForge publish free cybersecurity tools and practical guides for the public in regions around the world. Each initiative adds to what everyone knows, bridges the digital divide for those who lack access to cybersecurity and raises crucial awareness of the ever-evolving threats, so that everyone can keep learning long after October.

Reporting is the other part of the shared effort. In the United States, fraud can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov. In Canada it can be reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, and across the European Union to national police. When money has already been sent, the Federal Trade Commission advises contacting the bank or payment service used to send it straight away. Unfortunately, fewer than one victim in six in the European Union tells the police, and so every extra report offers investigators and researchers more to assist the greater cause of a safer online world.

Every warning passed on, and every cybersecurity tool made available to a family member, a classmate or a colleague, increases access to online safety and adds to what the next person knows before it is too late.

Lindsay McDonald is an independent strategist and a representative of UtilForge (utilforge.org), which makes free cybersecurity tools and information available to the public. UtilForge is a registered 2026 Champion of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Sources

The share of losses from people aged 60 and over (about 37 per cent) is calculated from the two report figures above. Figures checked on 16 October 2026.

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