These days, kids spend more time online. They use the internet for school, entertainment and staying in touch with their friends. But the more they are online, the more vulnerable they become. We've covered some ways that parents can keep their kids safe in the digital space. Here are three of the most common online scams that specifically target children and teenagers, and guide how parents can intervene.  

1. Can you spot a phish?

We've covered phishing in more detail before. To recap, phishing is a trick scammers use to try to steal your sensitive information, such as bank details, credit card details, or passwords. And just like adults, kids are at high risk. They would receive what appears to be an official message they trust, such as from TikTok, or from people pretending to be their favourite gamers or influencers, prompting them to provide password or banking details. Of course, it all looks legit until their account is hijacked.

2. You've won!

Or maybe not. Winning a prize in a competition you've entered is exciting, but it can be misleading to young kids. They'll receive emails or messages promising free in-game items or currency. They’re encouraged to click a link that takes them to a phishing site that steals their login and account info. Of course, the promised free stuff is never delivered. Ignore and mark as spam!

3. The rise of sextortion

Young people, especially teen boys between the ages of 14 and 18, are increasingly the targets of sextortion scams. They receive friend requests from strangers who then gain their trust, and convince them to send explicit images of themselves, and then threaten to share them with the kid's friends and family unless they pay up, leading to severe psychological effects.

How to intervene

Scams targeting kids and teens are on the rise. Kids trust their parents and guardians to protect them. This makes it your duty to intervene before your kids become victims of scams. Here’s how.

• Start an open dialogue with your kids and teach them about the most common scams and how to spot them. And encourage them to come to you if anything doesn't feel right.
• Encourage them to be aware of and avoid anything that looks suspicious -  unknown links, friend requests from people they don’t know, offers that are too good to be true, pop-up ads, etc.
• Also, teach them to be cautious about money and add guardrails if they have access to any of your accounts.
• Review their privacy settings and use parental controls to ensure they are not exposed to any inappropriate or harmful content and that you, as a parent or trusted adult, can review who they interact with online.

Remember, prevention is better than a cure. For more information on keeping your kids safe online, read more here.