Scammers don’t just target adults; social media most popular method to scam youths

QUINCY — As your kids get older, they’ll spend more time online. Now is a good time to start teaching them about protecting their personal information.

Adults aren’t the only ones who can be targeted by a scam online: Children are at risk too. While Better Business Bureau does not collect information from people under the age of 18, reports from adults indicate that scammers are targeting children.

In BBB’s 2023 Scam Tracker Risk Report, about 20% of adults surveyed said they had children ages 7-18. Of those with children, 16.4% said their children had been targeted by scams.

The most popular method scammers used to reach children was social media, followed by gaming platforms, email and phone apps.

Building good habits now will help kids stay safe online and protect themselves from scams throughout their lives.

BBB’s tips for helping children practice online safety:

• Know where your child is spending time online. Keep track of the sites and accounts your child can access. Social media was the top method scammers used to contact children in reports to BBB last year, and while they often have minimum age requirements, kids can easily enter a false birthdate to create an account.
• Teach kids to share with care. It’s never too early to learn that anything posted online can last a lifetime. Talk to kids about who might see a post, how it might be perceived and how their actions online can impact other people. Remind them that sharing personal information online can sometimes give scammers hints to their account logins and passwords, and teach them how to create secure passwords.
• Learn about online privacy together. To help kids begin learning how their information might be shared or used, look up some common terms found in privacy policies and terms of agreement and talk about them together: Personal information, cookies, third party, license, user content, location information, log file information, monetization.
• Keep an eye out for phishing. Kids have less online experience and might be more susceptible to clicking on links in junk email or answering questions they probably shouldn’t. Teach children never to click on links in an email and to tell a trusted adult if they receive a message from a stranger.
• Understand apps. Be aware that apps, including games, might collect and share personal information about your child or target them with ads. Even free apps can have paid features, and kids may not understand that some apps or game features cost money since they were labeled free to download.
• Teach download safety. Many websites allow children to download free media, and a child may not realize that this often comes with the risk of downloading a virus. Encourage children not to click download links on unfamiliar websites.
• Don’t share your location. Many apps share a user’s location by default. Together with your child, go into each app’s settings and turn off location sharing if it’s not needed.
• Consider parental controls. Although the best way to keep a child’s online privacy safe is to teach them to manage it themselves, you may wish to set parental controls to help keep kids safe while they start learning good habits.

More resources for your family:

The Family Online Safety Institute’s (FOSI) Good Digital Parenting web portal has resources for families to learn about online safety.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) protects the personal information of children under 13 on websites, apps and online services. Keep in mind: This rule can’t protect your child if they lie about their age online.

The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) helps companies comply with laws that protect children from deceptive advertising.

Don O’Brien is the regional director for the Quincy Better Business Bureau. Contact him at dobrien@quincybbb.org or 217-209-3972.