Norton, a leading Cyber Safety brand of Gen, today published the New Zealand findings from a global study about online dating, associated scams, and attitudes about online stalking.

The 2023 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report (NCSIR), conducted online in partnership with The Harris Poll, surveyed 1,003 New Zealand adults aged 18+. It found that 25 percent of respondents have fallen victim to an online dating or romance scam, with catfishing scams being the most common (9%), followed by malware and spyware scams (8%) (i.e., where a scammer sends a legitimate-looking website that includes malware), and fake dating sites (7%).

Furthermore, financial scams—asking for money and disappearing after it was sent (which affected 6 percent of participants surveyed), military romance scams (6%), cryptocurrency scams (5%) and intimate activity scams (5%) (i.e., where a scammer convinces a victim to undress or otherwise, and then threatens them with the recording), were also recorded. 62 percent of online dating/romance scam victims have suffered financial loss, with an average loss of NZ$264.

Given online dating/romance scams have proven to be a costly threat to some New Zealand adults, it is no surprise that the majority of Kiwis who have used a dating website/app (61%) admit to taking action after matching with a potential romantic partner. These include looking up their social media profiles (48%), typing their name into a search engine (30%), looking up their profile on a professional networking site (26%), or looking up their friends or family on social media (23%). One in 10 (10%) have even paid to run a background check on them.

Dancing with the Stars choreographer Nerida Cortese says, “I’ve used online dating apps before and was aware of scammers out there, so I made a point to be careful and alert. Being in the public eye means I needed to keep my identity fairly private on apps. Fortunately, I met my partner soon after I joined, but I understood the rules of the game. Do tell family or a close friend when and where you’re going, never send anyone money, and if they seem too good to be true, swipe left!”

With vetting a potential date being commonplace amongst Kiwis, the survey has also found that more than 2 in 5 online daters (44%) have unmatched or declined a date with someone on a dating app after uncovering unsettling information about them. The most common reasons being they found out the person lied about their personal details (20%), found pictures of matches online that did not align with their online dating profile pictures (20%), and found disturbing social media posts (17%).

Like online daters, New Zealand adults in romantic relationships also engage in “online creeping.” One-third of adults in New Zealand surveyed who have been in a romantic relationship (33%) admit to checking in on their current or former partners without their knowledge or consent, most commonly by checking their current or former significant other’s phone to view text messages, phone calls, direct messages, emails, or photos (17%). Others say they have used their knowledge of their passwords to access their partner’s device or online accounts (13%), tracked their location via a location sharing app (11%), or even created a fake profile on a dating app to see if their significant other have a dating profile (8%).

Additional findings from the survey include:

• Social media lurking can lead to awkward moments: Nearly one in five Kiwis (19%) who took part in the survey say they have accidentally liked an old post or photo on a social media profile of a romantic interest or of their partner’s ex-significant other
• Young Kiwi adults are less concerned about being stalked online, as long as it is not in person. A concerning 67 percent of Gen Z (aged 18-25) say they don’t care if they are stalked online by a current or former partner, as long as they’re not being stalked in person, compared with 29 percent of Gen X (aged 43-57) and 15 percent of Older Adults (aged 58+)

Gen Managing Director APAC Mark Gorrie thinks people can be too cavalier about online safety, “Sure, there is an obvious difference between stalking online and offline, but both ultimately pose a risk to personal safety and wellbeing. You wouldn’t introduce yourself to every person on the street with your full name, phone number and home address, but you can inadvertently do that online if you’re not intentional about what you are revealing and where.”

For those who would like a safer and more positive dating experience, Mark Gorrie has shared these additional tips from Norton:

1. Choose the right site: Stick to credible websites. Paid sites also tend to have members that are more committed to meeting up in real life, because it is a financial investment. Free sites tend to have more members, which equals more choices, but it also means there’s a higher chance of interacting with a scammer.
2. Protect your privacy: Most dating sites store more personal information about you than other websites, including demographic information and even “personality quiz” information to help match you with like-minded individuals. You want to be sure your private information is being protected. Do check the privacy settings on your profile, these are sometimes public by default. Check to see if the website deletes your data after you close your account. Lastly, is your photo only shown to members or can it also be used for online advertising? If so, is there an option to opt-out?
3. Creating your profile: Balance creating an enticing profile while keeping a tight grip on your personal information. Create a username that you have not used for any other online accounts, because your username can be searched, and anything tied to it will come up. Profile photos can contain a lot of personal information in the background if you’re not careful. Relatedly, use unique photos for each site. Otherwise, a user can reverse image search your pictures and easily locate other websites where that photo is posted. Set up a free email account to use with your dating account that has a unique name. Make sure that the email address has no personal information about you in it.
4. Communicate safely: Initially, limit communications to the dating site itself. A lot of these sites have moderators and allow you to report anything that seems offensive or threatening. If you move the conversation to email, use the dedicated email account you created to protect your anonymity. For a phone call, set up a free Google Voice account, which will generate a separate phone number and forward it to your mobile. In case things fizzle out, the other person won’t have your real phone number.
5. Make sure you don’t catch a "catfish": Catfishing is when a user assumes the identity of someone else. This tactic is used by online predators to try to trick people into an online romantic relationship. If the user’s profile seems too good to be true, it probably is. Do a reverse online image search of their photos, and if they appear in other places, under other names, you may have caught yourself a catfish.

To view the full results from the 2023 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Special Release – Online Creeping, and accompanying visual assets, visit: https://newsroom.gendigital.com/2023-Norton-Cyber-Safety-Insights-Report-Special-Release-Online-Creeping

ENDS

About the 2023 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report – Cybercrime, ID Theft, Online Privacy, Online Creeping

The research was conducted online in New Zealand by The Harris Poll on behalf of NortonLifeLock among 1,003 adults aged 18+, of which 128 are Gen Z (ages 18-25), 295 are Millennials (ages 26-42), and 343 are Older Adults (ages 58+). The survey was conducted November 29 – December 19, 2022. Data are weighted where necessary by age, gender, region, education, and marital status, to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 4.2 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to other multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including, but not limited to coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.

About Norton

Norton is a leading Cyber Safety brand of Gen™ (NASDAQ: GEN), a global company dedicated to powering Digital Freedom through its family of trusted consumer brands including Norton, Avast, LifeLock, Avira, AVG, ReputationDefender and CCleaner. Gen empowers people to live their digital lives safely, privately, and confidently today and for generations to come. Gen brings award-winning products and services in cybersecurity, online privacy and identity protection to more than 500 million users in more than 150 countries. Learn more at Norton.com and GenDigital.com.

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