It may seem counterintuitive, but people are less likely to fall for scams when using their phone rather than a personal computer, according to a survey.

The findings, published by ScienceDirect, busts a general belief that users were more cautious and in control in front of their computer at home than they would be out and about, scrolling through their phone contents on the run.

But it seems users take less risks when on the go.

Some 257 participants were recruited and divided it into two equal groups — half used a mobile phone and half a personal computer.

A simulated cyberattack took place where an ad appeared and asked participants to click on a link which was designed to look risky.

According to the results almost 57% of participants didn’t click on the link. Of these 36% were using personal computers while 64% were using mobile phones.

“The fact that successful phishing attempts require victims to collaborate with their attackers highlights the importance of identifying factors that influence users’ avoidance behaviour, the study published in ScienceDirect says.

It says three studies now suggest mobile users are more risk-avoidant. In one study, 500,000 URL requests showed that mobile users are less likely to click on unsafe URLs compared to PC users.

Other studies have investigated why this is the case. One argument is that mobile users are “less exploratory” when on the go and are less prone to clicking on links they weren’t expecting. They had a stronger tendency to select search results at the top of the list, and to choose geographically close entities, the report says.

“Applying these findings to our context, we suggest that mobile users might have a more powerful response than PC users to digital cues indicative of risk.

“Given the plethora of devices available to users, our findings advance the understanding of device-related behavioral differences. These novel insights can help cybersecurity companies design solutions that better fit the device being used and the desired user behaviour.”