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Study: Two-thirds of Web surfers fall prey to online crime

Survey finds China, Brazil, India, and the U.S. at top of list of countries with the most cybercrime victims.

Elinor Mills Former Staff Writer
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service and the Associated Press.
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Elinor Mills
 
The average amount of time spent to resolve a cybercrime and the average cost vary from country to country, according to the Norton study.
The average amount of time spent to resolve a cybercrime and the average cost vary from country to country, according to the Norton study. Symantec/Norton

About two-thirds of Internet users globally and nearly three-quarters of Web surfers in the U.S. have been victims of online crime, according to a study to be released on Wednesday.

The top countries as far as reported victims are China, Brazil and India tied for second, and then the U.S., according to the findings of the study, titled "Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact." More than 7,000 adults in 14 countries were interviewed for the study.

While one-quarter of respondents said they expect to be victimized by online crime, only half said they would change their behavior if they became a victim. Of those who have been victimized, 44 percent reported the crime to the police.

It takes an average of 28 days to resolve a cybercrime and costs on average $334, the report found. One-third of respondents who were victimized said they never fully resolved the matter.

Computer viruses and malware are the most common types of online attacks, with 51 percent reporting being impacted by them, followed by 10 percent hit by "online scams," 9 percent by phishing and 7 percent each for social network profile hacking, online credit card fraud and sexual predation, according to the report.