WhatsApp is the Least Trusted Social Media Platform for Scams

Currently, we are very much in an age of social media, it informs many of the decisions we make and serves as a source of information and social interaction. It also serves as a platform to share news, voice opinions, and create varying types of content, locally and worldwide. 

However, our reliance on social media could also be perceived as a liability. As everyone knows, when you make accounts, you usually have to put in various amounts of information, some of it rather personal. And, especially where social media platforms are concerned, data leaks are a somewhat regular occurrence.

Nearly 60% of the world’s population relies on the use of social media, and with the risk of scams on these platforms ever-present, research can reveal that WhatsApp is the site with the largest concern for scams.

The experts at Proxyrack have used google search data to analyse the top social media sites in order to reveal which sites have the biggest concerns for scams – and Twitter doesn’t make the top 10!

You can view the full research here: https://www.proxyrack.com/blog/social-media-security-report/

Social Media Sites with the Largest Concern for Scams

 
The experts at Proxyrack have used google search data to analyse the top social media sites in order to reveal which sites have the biggest concerns for scams – and Twitter doesn’t make the top 10!

1. WhatsApp

Search Term: WhatsApp scams
Google Search Volume: 397,100

WhatsApp, owned by Facebook, comes out as the social media platform where there is the highest perceived concern for scams, with 397,100 Google searches in the last year. The platform hasn’t exactly been the best at using the data of its users, as in 2021 it was fined $266 million for data transparency breaches.

2. Instagram

Search Term: Instagram scams
Google Search Volume: 149,600

Instagram came out as the second social media site where people were most concerned about scams, with a total of 149,600 Google searches in the past year. Most people who have used the social networking site will have come across fake accounts or “bots”, usually messaging you informing you that you’ve won something too good to be true. That’s because it usually is, and such accounts should be reported indiscriminately.

3. Facebook Messenger

Search Term: Facebook Messenger scams
Google Search Volume: 138,600

And finally, Facebook Messenger specifically comes out as the third social networking site where people are most concerned about scams. Facebook’s instant messaging app is prone to many of the same behaviors as Instagram, fake accounts messaging you telling you that you’ve won something or trying to lure personal information from you. Be cautious in accepting message requests and use common sense, if it seems risky, block immediately.

The Research and Further Findings Have Revealed

• The top 10 were searched for 96,290 times on average – ranging from WhatsApp (397,100) to Reddit (23,500).
• Twitter places 12th in the list of social media sites with the largest concern for scams, with 9,450 searches over a 1-year period.
• Meta owns four out of the 10 social media sites with the largest concern for scams.
• Facebook is the social media site with the most data breaches with a total of 8 breaches since 2013.
• Yahoo! is the social media site with the most users affected by data breaches, with over 3.5 billion users affected since its first data breach in 2012.

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