Teens have grown up with computers and smartphones. So it’s no surprise that they are tech and Internet savvy, giving them confidence online. They also tend to be inexperienced and more trusting than most age groups when it comes to interacting with others. This combination can make young people vulnerable to scam artists, especially in an increasingly dangerous online world. According to the FBI, 14,919 scam incidents were reported by people aged 19 and younger in 2021. These scams resulted in losses of $101.4 million to the teens that reported them.
“Minors under 18 are far more likely to become victims of identity theft than adults,” says scam expert, Steve Weisman. “They are targeted for two reasons. The first is that they take longer to find out that they are victims of identity theft, thereby allowing the identity thieves more time to use their identities for criminal purposes. In addition, their information is used often in synthetic identity theft where criminals create a totally phony identity with information taken from a number of different people.”
According to a 2021 study, social media use is up 84% among teens compared to 2015. As many as 94% of 8- to 18-year-olds have access to a smartphone, so it only makes sense to know what scammers are doing and how to defeat them. Here are 10 of the more common scams that directly or indirectly target teenagers and what you can do to help ensure your teen doesn’t become a victim.
Without getting into the finer points of some typical scams, here are some bullet points regarding them:
- The onset of COVID-19 and the resulting isolation were especially hard on young people, which led to an increase in scams targeting teens.
- Scams that target teenagers abound, especially in their favorite habitat—the Internet.
- Fraudsters use social media to trick teens into providing personal information, which can be used for identity theft.
- Many scams take the form of ads and online offers, promising luxury goods for amazingly cheap prices—goods that never arrive.
- Other scams involve contests, scholarships, or employment opportunities that require the teen to pay some sort of fee or deposit.
- Yet another trick is to lure teens with free services for smartphones that actually incur a monthly charge.
1. Social Media Scams
Social media is prime territory for Internet-based scams that target teens. Teenagers, after all, are social animals, and recent pandemic lockdowns have helped create a perfect storm of teen anxiety and scammer opportunities that continue to play out on most of the major social media platforms.
Among scams common to social media are those involving identity theft, or the stealing of another person’s personal information. Chief among these are surveys or contests that request personal information and catfishing in which the scammer poses as someone they are not and befriends the victim with the intention of taking money, personal information, or more.
2. Online Shopping Scams
“Teens and millennials are also big online spenders for expensive goods,” says Weisman. “Often they are lured into phony websites that take their money and sell them nothing, lured into providing personal information used for purposes of identity theft or tricked into clicking on links and downloading malware.”
The latest iPhone, designer handbag, or state-of-the-art headphones for a fraction of the retail price sounds too good to be true. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what it is: too good to be true. When paid for, online bargain-basement-priced goods rarely arrive.
Another version of this scam involves knockoffs or counterfeit products pretending to be the real deal. Once the province of shady back-alley salesmen from the trunk of a car, online knock-off sales have found a new home and, in bargain-hunting teens, new victims. The adage remains: “If it seems too good to be true,” and so forth. Like many adults, teens are often so embarrassed about being duped that they won’t tell their parents or the authorities, so many of these scams go unreported.
3. Identity Theft
This scam deserves special mention because it is one of the most prevalent and also because social media is just one online area where it appears. Others include websites, email, messaging apps, and pop-up windows.
The naiveté of youth often makes it easier for would-be identity thieves to phish for information. Young people don’t always realize that they’re handing over personal data that can be used for identity theft. This is illustrated in a survey that found a much higher rate (15%) of identity theft among those 18 to 29 years old than among those 45 and older (8%).
Any online interaction that asks for personal information could be an identity theft operation. This includes:
- False employment opportunities
- Fake applications for credit cards, scholarships and grants, and student loans
- So-called freebies
Weisman also notes that job scams can lead to identity theft or worse. “Some of these job scams send counterfeit checks in an amount more than what the young person is to be paid, and they are tricked into depositing the money in their account and wiring the balance back to their ’employer.’ The check sent by the scammer ultimately bounces, but the money wired by the young person is gone forever.”
4. Skill or Talent Contests
Another popular online scam that thrives outside of social media is a variation on acting and modeling scams, which are also alive and well on the Internet. More recent scams involve skill-based contests in which teens are urged to enter artwork, music compositions, or creative writing in order to win money and, more importantly, fame.
These scams may or may not require an entry fee and if the teen wins, even more cash. Spoiler alert: The entry does win and the additional fee or fees supposedly help with the cost of promotion, publication, and so forth.
5. Scholarship Scams
As college costs loom and young people (and their parents) worry about financing higher education, skepticism about unsolicited scholarships and grant offers may not be as strong as it should be. The goal of these scams may be simple identity theft or it may be a more direct attempt to charge for so-called proprietary information about scholarships or free money the public doesn’t know exists.
These bogus offers sometimes take the form of guarantees you will get your money back if you don’t receive the scholarship. For example, these faux scholarship programs will often require the applicant to pay a “registration fee”; however, there is no scholarship to be had and the fraudster will pocket the fee. Alternatively, the scam can take the form of a scholarship raffle, which will require the participant to pay either a “processing fee” or a “disbursement fee” citing tax costs, but ultimately the result is the same.
6. Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Scams
The scam companies often have names that make it appear they are government-affiliated. Real student loan forgiveness, applicable to federal student loans only, involves no fees.
In addition to promises of forgiveness, some scammers promise consolidation loans that also appear to be from the government. In fact, these are private loans that charge high fees just to apply. Legitimate student loan consolidation does not require a fee.
The U.S. Department of Education continued the student loan payment pause until Dec. 31, 2022, due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. During this forbearance period, eligible loan payments are suspended and incur a 0% interest rate. All collection activity is also stopped on defaulted loans. Private student loans are not eligible for this moratorium.
7. Online Auctions
Auction scams have been found to target unsuspecting teens in various ways. One scam involves an auction that the teen wins for an item that doesn’t exist or never arrives—even though the teen has paid for it. Alternatively, when an unsuspecting teen is encouraged to auction off possessions, the scam artist requires the teen to send in the item in advance, before the buyer’s payment arrives, or even before bids are placed. Of course, the funds never arrive or the auction never happens, and the rep disappears.
8. Catfishing scams
As with a lot of things in the digital age, even searching for romance has also transitioned online, and online dating platforms have become rewarding hunting grounds for romance scammers. These fraudsters, however, don’t just stick to dating sites – they often scour social media for their marks and contact them via private messages.
The ruse often consists of impersonating a person who their targets will find attractive. The scammer will then proceed to woo them until they achieve their ultimate goal – scam them out of money. Unfortunately, in some cases, the cybercriminals opt for abhorrent tactics, such as manipulating their marks into sharing risqué photos and then proceeding to blackmail them into paying money, threatening to release the incriminating photos to their loved ones and the public if they don’t pay.
9. Weight Loss Scams
Many teens have body image issues. Though social media has received plenty of attention for the role it plays in this, scammers are equally culpable because they weaponize insecurity and use it to encourage teens to spend money on useless and sometimes dangerous products and services.
Scams include everything from so-called keto diet pills to free trial offers that lead to long-term contracts to doctored images in ads and more. Eating a healthy diet and regular exercise are the keys to weight loss, but scammers promise quicker and easier results for a fee.
10. Webcam Security
Another type of fraudulent activity magnified by the pandemic is webcam security. Zoom classes, a desire on the part of teens to connect with classmates while in quarantine, and a general desire to remain socially active, resulted in the growing use of webcams and an understandable but dangerous lack of webcam security.
The scam part of this situation involves the ability of hackers to infiltrate webcams that are not covered or otherwise disabled, and as a result, collect information and images that can be used to blackmail teens and their parents.
How to avoid scams?
It’s an old but eternally important life lesson. If you’re a parent, take the time to discuss with your teens the types of information that scammers are looking for and emphasize the need for security, privacy, and caution in sharing data.
Beyond that, here are some specific steps teens can take to protect themselves:
- Install malware and antivirus software and activate it.
- Use unique passwords for every site you visit.
- Don’t click on links from anyone you don’t know or trust.
- Unsolicited messages or offers should always be treated with a great deal of skepticism.
- Check online reviews before visiting a website.
- Don’t give out personal information unless you know you can trust the person receiving it.
- Never pay to enter a contest, apply for a scholarship, or get a job. Period.
- Learn what a reverse lookup search engine is and how to use it.
- Don’t be embarrassed to tell your parents or a trusted adult if you think you’ve been scammed.