Mobile phone blunders putting users at risk

Adapted from SkyNews (news.sky.com)

Almost 75 per cent of people describe themselves as tech literate despite making daily blunders that leave them open to security risks, according to a study of mobile device users.

The research found that fewer than 40 per cent of people have a password lock on their phones.

Last year, there were 123,589 victims of identity fraud with the average financial loss per victim being £1,100.

In 2012, it took people an average of 444 days to discover that they had become a victim of ID fraud.

The findings show that many tech users carry out frequent activities online that put them at risk.

Almost a fifth of people admitted to leaving emails logged in. A similar proportion of the population have clicked "remember me" when logging onto a site for the first time.

One in 10 of us have logged onto our bank account on public wifi or 3G, and almost a fifth think it is safe to use free wifi if they are not accessing sensitive data.

Ten percent of people also admit that everyone can view their social media account, while one in six say they have accepted a friend request from someone they don not know, opening their personal information up for potential scammers.

The research was conducted by Experian to reflect the growing rate of mobile device adoption across the population and demonstrate risks of online identity theft and fraud.