From knock-off designer products to too-good-to-be-true job offers, here are five common schemes fraudsters use to trick teenagers out of their money and sensitive data
Most teenagers, while not as impressionable as small children, can still be subjected to various external influences. If you’re one of them, you probably haven’t experienced the many ups and downs life could throw at you, and you may be too eager to trusting and easy to manipulate. And that trusting nature, innocence, and youthful naivety may make you a prime target for scam artists, who are looking to dupe you out of your money or personal data.
Let’s look at some common scams targeting teens and what to watch out for. If you’re a parent, you may want to share this advice with your children and help them – and your entire family – stay safe online.
1. Social media scams
With social media being the digital playground for most teenagers, it’s only natural that enterprising fraudsters will try to target them where they spend most of their time. Social media scams take on a variety of shapes and sizes, so there isn’t a one-size-fits-all. Some of the more common ones pose as links to tabloid articles with shocking headlines about celebrities; however, once you click on such a link, you’ll be rerouted to a malicious website.
Alternatively, scammers may contact their victims directly through messages with offers of partaking in competitions or sweepstakes, but again, the shared link will almost certainly redirect the teenager to a fraudulent website that will either infest their devices with malware or try to wrangle their sensitive information from them.
