Is it the lack of basic digital skills? Is it the blind trust we sometimes show towards a digital entity that happens to appear before us on a platform, application or social media? Is it perhaps the relentless human obsession with easy wealth? Or ultimately, the extent to which our intelligence remains underdeveloped? The issue is digital fraud.
Undoubtedly, the rapid development of technology and the integration of the internet into our daily lives create new opportunities at all levels. At the same time, however, they require increased responsibility, knowledge and caution.
Historically, those who adapt first to new conditions and realities are criminals, who constantly find new ways to exploit users’ ignorance, carelessness and trust. Yet it defies logic that people continue not to learn from the thousands of published examples meant as warnings. It is irrational to place your savings on a platform promising to double them within weeks, only to lose everything overnight. Equally irrational is transferring tens of thousands of euros to an account indicated by someone behind a website for the purchase of a luxury vehicle, without any guarantee whatsoever.
If you wanted to buy a car in the real world, would you not visit several dealerships, assess your options, meet the importers and thoroughly evaluate whom you trust before making a decision? Why, then, in the digital world, sitting on your sofa or at your desk, do you place blind trust in someone and allow yourself to be deceived? Whether it concerns misleading emails or phone calls requesting urgent money transfers, phishing attempts for personal data, or any other scam used by opportunists.
Yes, Cyprus, according to European digital performance indicators, has made notable progress in connectivity infrastructure over the years. However, statistics show that digital illiteracy in Cyprus affects nearly half the population, with only 49.5% possessing basic digital skills – a fact that largely explains how easily some fall victim online.
This is why government policy cannot focus solely on turning the country into a hub for business and high-level technological innovation – a goal partly achieved, given that the sector now contributes more than 14% to GDP. The Deputy Ministry of Innovation has an obligation to broaden its outreach and intensify its efforts to reduce the digital divide by including more population groups in training programmes to address digital inequality.
