WhatsApp Scams, Cybersecurity Awareness and Digital Consumer Vulnerability among Mobile Banking Users in Nepal

This study examined WhatsApp scam exposure, cybersecurity awareness, and digital consumer vulnerability among mobile banking users in Nepal. A cross-sectional survey was completed by 402 adults who used mobile banking or digital payment services and WhatsApp or a comparable messaging platform. The analysis used descriptive statistics, reliability assessment, exploratory factorability diagnostics, Pearson correlations, chi-square tests, exploratory mediation, and ordinary least squares regression with HC3 robust standard errors. Nearly half of respondents (47.3%) had received suspicious or scam-like WhatsApp messages. The leading message types were suspicious links requesting personal information, fake investment or trading offers, online earning schemes, fake job offers, lottery or prize messages, and fake bank-verification messages. Personal financial loss was reported by 3.5%, while 35.1% knew someone who had lost money. In the adjusted model, cybersecurity awareness was negatively associated with susceptibility, B = -0.141, p = .012, whereas trust in WhatsApp messages, B = 0.249, p < .001, and prior exposure frequency were positive predictors. Digital literacy, digital financial literacy/safety, and perceived risk were not significant after adjustment. Exposure was significantly associated with WhatsApp groups containing unknown people. The findings support multilingual, scenario-based awareness, app-based alerts, independent verification routines, and simpler reporting channels for Nepal’s banking, wallet, regulatory, educational, and law-enforcement stakeholders.

WhatsApp scams, mobile banking, cybersecurity awareness, digital literacy

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