Am I Simply Unlucky? Are you a mozzie magnet? Or are you one of those lucky people with natural mosquito repellent superpowers? It turns out there really are two extremes — but if you’re one of the unlucky 20 per cent of the population that gets bitten more often than everyone else, you probably already knew that. So, apart from forgetting to use insect repellent, what makes some people more attractive to mozzies than others? A Mozzie's Sense of Smell. Mosquitoes have a keen sense of smell, apparently, and they have a thing for carbon dioxide. People who exhale more CO2 tend to be targets. So that means larger people and those with high metabolic rates—or people who’ve just been exercising—are especially prone.