Security giant reports jump in online fraud claims

Men are more likely to fall for Internet scams and suffer economic losses, according to a security report issued by China's biggest security software provider.

An online platform jointly launched by security giant Qihoo 360 and the Beijing Public Security Bureau received 8,247 reports about online fraud from July to September. That was an increase of 19.2 percent from the previous three-month period, said the Qihoo 360 report issued on Thursday.

More than 13 million yuan ($2 million) was involved in the 3,091 fraud reports that targeted mobile phones, the report said.

The victims were mainly between the ages of 15 to 29, and men were twice as likely as women to be defrauded, the report said. The average loss was 5,211 yuan.

Qihoo 360, a Chinese technology leading company, said it had helped users block 265 million fraudulent text messages during the period. It said 51.3 percent of the hoax texts had pretended to be a bank and 32.4 percent had imitated a telecom giant such China Mobile.