Online fraudsters might consider targeting their efforts exclusively at men following a report showing that males are a softer touch when it comes to online scams.

The study by the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) revealed that men lost around 85p to every 50p lost by women in online fraud over 2007.

The IC3, which shares its database with regulators and law enforcement agencies to track down internet criminals, based its findings on more than 206,000 complaints received over the year.

The IC3 partly attributed male online fallibility to buying patterns. " Historically men were more apt to purchase large-ticket items like electronics. That could explain a lot of it," said IC3 research manager and report author John Kane.

However, it would also seem that the attraction of money making opportunities is just too hard for men to resist.

"Men tend to fall victim to business investment schemes and some other schemes that have a higher dollar loss," said Kane.

The average loss caused by investment scams is now more than £1,750, and reports of such incidents are overwhelmingly submitted by men.

Internet crime is clearly a growth industry. Total losses from complaints in 2007 rose from £20m in 2006 to around £120m in 2007, according to the report.