Women investors less scam-prone

TORONTO (Reuters) - Fewer women than men get duped by fraudulent investment schemes because they are generally more risk-averse than men, according to a Canadian securities watchdog.

The British Columbia Securities Commission delved into data collected in national online surveys in 2006 and 2007, and concluded that women's attitudes to investing made them less likely to be ripped off than men.

"In general, women investors are more risk-averse," Patricia Bowles, the commission's communications director, said in a statement on Thursday.

"They are less likely to believe investing is a gamble, they put more trust in investment professionals, and they are less likely to believe in bending the rules to get ahead in life," she said.

Of more than 5,000 Canadians who participated in the surveys, 36 percent of women reported being approached with a fraudulent investment, versus 46 percent of men.

Of those approached -- often through e-mail or telephone cold calls -- 10 percent of women were defrauded, but 15 percent of men were taken in, the investor study found.

However, the findings also indicate that more women than men rely completely on financial advisers, rather than doing their own investing homework, Bowles said.

"We'd like to see women far more confident as investors, they've got to take a far more proactive involvement in managing their own money," she said.