Scams targeted at teens have being increasing in recent years.
It’s not hard to scam young people since they tend to be inexperienced, are trusting and often want to fit in. This makes them prime targets for fraudsters and scam artists.
Given that kids virtually live and interact online, it’s no surprise that the internet is the medium of choice for scammers.
Forms of the Scam
- Scams that target teenagers usually target them through their favorite habitat, the internet.
- Many scams are through ads and auctions that promise luxury goods for amazingly cheap prices. These goods that never arrive.
- Other favorite scams involving teens show up as contests, scholarships, or employment offers that require the teen to pay some sort of fee or deposit.
- Another trick is to lure teens with free services for cell phones that actually incur a monthly charge.
Inexpensive Luxury Goods
Many of these advertisements are simply scams aimed at unsuspecting individuals who are looking for a good deal. However, these scams don’t only exist online. Teens can be approached with these too good to be true offers just about anywhere.
In most cases, these cheap goods don’t even exist. After the teen hands over their money, they will never receive the merchandise. If the item does show up, it’ll be an obviously cheap imitation or poorly made counterfeit.
It sad that these teens are often so embarrassed about being duped that they won’t tell their parents or the authorities, so many of these of these types of scams are unreported.
Farming for Information
The inexperience of youth often makes it easier for identity thieves to phish for information. Many just don’t realize that they’re handing over personal data that can be used for identity theft.
Many of these scams operate online and take the form of emails or pop-up windows that ask for verification of addresses, passwords, social security numbers, phone numbers, or bank or credit card account numbers.
Contests
Who doesn’t like a contest? Scammers run contests, with the with the goal of gathering entry money and personal information as a means of identity theft.
Another variation of the contest scam takes the form of literature or art competitions where creative young people can submit their work in the hopes of winning a prize or having their work published. Of course, the applicant wins and is then asked to pay a fee for the work to actually be published or displayed. Sometimes they are required to send money with the opportunity to win an even larger prize.
Scholarships and Grants
Many young people are worried about financing their higher education, and this may cause them to fall victim to scams for false scholarships or grants. Many of these offers are attempts to steal personal information from students who may be looking for financial aid. Other scams focus on charging money for information on potential scholarships that may or may not actually exist.
Another variety targets young college students who have accrued debt from legitimate student loans. These older teens may be approached by people who offer to help eliminate student debt in exchange for a small fee. Once the fee is paid, the fraudster disappears without, of course, altering the student’s debt at all.
Cell Phone Companies
Many teens carry their cell phones wherever they go and this creates a vehicle for potential fraud.
Knowing how kids love to personalize their phones there are companies that target teens for “free” new ringtones and wallpaper images that might arrive on a subscription basis, however, what they don’t advertise or at least make clear, is that the service comes with a large fee that’s then added to the phone bill each month.
Remember
It’s an old but important life lesson: If anything looks too good to be true, it probably is.
If you’re a parent, take the time to discuss the types of information that scammers are looking for, emphasize the need for security, privacy, and caution in sharing data. And make your children aware of any common frauds out there, especially on the internet.
