Hackers choose certain very specific times to send fraudulent emails and other phishing attempts.
False alerts, false promotions, false “official” requests… We know that online scams proliferate like weeds: they are everywhere, and when you discover one, ten others appear. With the advent of artificial intelligence, hackers are increasingly good at making us believe in deception. Fraudulent emails and sites are more credible than ever, and thousands of people fall for them every day, unwittingly giving access to their personal data, or worse, their bank account.
Although these attacks are extremely diverse and varied, they nevertheless have one thing in common: most occur at very specific times or days of the week. Yes, scammers no longer leave anything to chance. In addition to their meticulous vocabulary and their clever graphics, they understood that certain moments are more conducive to scams than others. This is therefore where you need to be most careful. “When the energy level is low, after a tiring day of work, obviously traditional alertness is diminished”explained Jean Doridot, doctor in psychology at Paris Nanterre University, on the channel LCI.
Indeed, it is between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. that online scams explode the most, because criminals take advantage of the drop in concentration linked to the end of the day to more easily deceive their victims. Our brains are tired, stressed, and therefore analyze suspicious signals less well. This data is confirmed by a study by Hoxhunt, a cybersecurity training company, according to which Internet users click more on fraudulent links outside of working hours, with a vulnerability that can be multiplied by two in the evening, and even more on weekends.
Because yes, during the weekend, it’s even worse: we record three times more cyberattacks than during the week. Here again, it is because of less caution among Internet users, but for the opposite reason. “On the contrary, on weekends, the person rests, with this kind of euphoria which will reduce their level of alertness”affirms Jean Doridot. At the end of the week, our brains take a break. More relaxed, more distracted, we are less inclined to think, and therefore also to analyze the risks when faced with a questionable email or message.
American and German academic work, based on phishing simulations, in turn confirms that the timing of sending messages plays a key role, with certain slots significantly increasing click-through rates. We are much better at solving problems in the morning, and that’s why Internet users are “8 to 10 times more likely to click on a phishing message” in the afternoon or evening. Now, knowing this, it’s time to reverse the trend and stay vigilant at all hours of the day!
