Fraud, scams and
commercial exploitation
The dangers
• Children are still generally quite
trusting and uncritical about what
they read online
• They are therefore more susceptible
to deception and con tricks
Competitions
• Children love
competitions and
interactive features
in general
• The Internet is
awash with them
Competitions
• Often the organisers make them look
appealing so children and young
people find web competitions very
exciting
• They can enter them easily and
instantly - there’s no need to collect
vouchers and put them in the post a few clicks and it’s done
Competitions
• The problem with them is that, of
course some are genuine, others are
bogus
• Often the aim for the organisers of
these hoax contests is simply to
collect personal information so that
they can later bombard the entrants
with advertising
Online shopping
• To young people, online shopping
seems so natural
• In the USA, children already do
about 15% of all their spending on
the Internet
Online shopping
• A lot of companies
specifically target their
marketing at young
people
• To persuade them to
buy, companies use
tactics that children
go for like web pages
with lots of colour,
animation,
interactivity plus low
prices
Scams
• The Internet has
given a new lease
of life to age-old
con tricks such as
pyramid schemes
and chain letters
Scams
• The Internet makes it very easy for
con artists to rip people off, hide and
move on if necessary
• The scams take many forms - emails
making promises of easy money and
free gifts are quite common
Phishing
• This is an email which
appears to come from your
bank or other financial
institution
• Within the email is a link
which, when clicked on,
takes you to a website - it
is not the actual website of
your bank but a copycat
site
Phishing
• You'll be asked to enter your bank
account number and password
• The fraudsters then have all they
need to access your online bank
accounts
Phishing
• No legitimate bank will ever ask you to
confirm personal details via email
• In particular, they’ll never ask you to
confirm your password or PIN number in
this way
• A threat to close down your account if you
don’t comply is always a giveaway
• Never click on the link contained in the
emails
An example of a phishing email
Phishing
• Report the incident to your actual bank
straightaway
• If you want to check your account, you should
type the bank or company website directly into
your web browser, or add a bookmark, rather
than following links in an email
• If you are unsure if an email you receive is
legitimate, visit the companies website directly,
phone the company, or contact their Customer
Services or fraud department
Top 10 phishing scams
• Look out for email messages like this:
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Please confirm your data.
NatWest Bank: please confirm your data!
Please Confirm Your Information!
NatWest Bank: please confirm your data.
NatWest Bank: Please Confirm Your Data!
NatWest Bank customer service: secure details confirmation
NatWest Bank customer service: please confirm your data!
NatWest Bank customer service: online client form released
Customer notification: data confirmation
Chase Bank: customer details confirmation!
CyberSafety tips
• It is very important you get children to check with an adult
first before they enter any online competitions
• Check the company behind the competition is reputable and
is bona fide - it is very easy to build a fake website so look
out for impostors. Install www.siteadvisor.com – it’s a free
piece of software that tells you how safe websites are
• Read the competition rules and terms and conditions very
carefully, if there are any - you want to make sure that the
company organising the competition will not pass on details
to other companies
CyberSafety tips
• When online, make sure your children are more cynical and
treat things they come across as suspicious unless they
have evidence to prove otherwise
• Never let your kids buy anything unless you are there.
Never leave your credit or debit cards – or the statements –
lying around the house
• Never give your credit or debit card number to your
children to type into a website - when it comes to that
stage in the purchase process, get them to call you over so
that you enter the details
CyberSafety tips
• When you are asked
to provide your credit
or debit card details
you should see an
‘unbroken key’ or a
‘locked padlock’
symbol at the bottom
of the browser
• If you do, it means
that the website is
secure - if you do not,
do not buy
CyberSafety tips
• Be wary of buying from companies
that do not have a postal address or
a telephone contact number on their
site
• Report anything that seems bogus to
your Internet Service Provider, the
Internet Watch Foundation
(www.iwf.org.uk) or your local police
CyberSafety tips
• Tell your children not to download games or
software without your permission
• Don't judge reliability by how professional a
website looks - it's relatively easy and costs very
little these days to create, register, and promote
a website
• Install the latest version of your web browser Internet Explorer version 7 and Firefox version 2
onwards both have sophisticated filters that can
detect most fake websites
CyberSafety tips
• Set your browser security settings to
high so that you are warned if
software you download tries to install
what are called ActiveX components
- these are small computer programs
that can run on your computer and
can cause problems.