Almost half of children have been scammed online

Yahoo

11-02-2025

Almost half of children have been scammed online, according to a study conducted for safer internet day.
A survey of 2,000 young people aged eight to 17 found 46 per cent had been victims of online scams and nearly one in 10 (9 per cent) had lost money in the process.
The most common frauds experienced by young people were fake giveaways, phishing and fake websites, followed by online shopping scams, including fake ticket sales, and so-called 'trust trades' in gaming.
Almost a fifth of young people (18 per cent) knew someone their age who had lost money to an online scam, according to the poll for the UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC).
A quarter of those who have fallen victim (26 per cent) say they blamed themselves, increasing to 37 per cent of 17-year-olds.
Almost half of young people (47 per cent) said they believed embarrassment was the main barrier to seeking help if they were scammed online.
Will Gardner, the UKSIC director, said: 'This Safer Internet Day, we want to put the importance of protecting children from online scams on the agenda.
'For too long, young people have been overlooked, yet our research clearly demonstrates how much of an impact online scams can have on them.'
Exposure to scams is a regular part of life online for young people, with 79 per cent coming across them at least once a month, almost half (45 per cent) at least once a week, and 20 per cent seeing scams online every day.
Some 81 per cent of parents and carers and 43 per cent of teenagers believed online scams were getting more convincing, and around a third of young people (32 per cent) worried that the use of new technology, such as generative artificial intelligence, will make scams harder to identify.
A separate study from Vodafone, also released for Safer Internet Day, suggested that approaching one million British children aged 11 to 16 have been scammed online in the last 12 months, with those aged 13 most likely to be affected.
One fifth of these scams (22 per cent) are occurring on gaming platforms, while 78 per cent take place on social media platforms.
Focus groups revealed that fraudsters were taking advantage of trusted platforms and the way they were designed to target young people, capitalising on their vulnerabilities, including financial insecurity, reliance on technology and social pressure.
Young people said the most common scams were ads or quizzes which appeared to be from well-known brands but were in fact luring them into parting with personal information or buying fake products.
The Vodafone study, which analysed the experiences of 2,000 parents and children, as well as more than 4,800 teachers, suggested that over 3,000 attempts are made to scam young people online every day.
Helen Westerman, the campaigns manager at the NSPCC, said: 'These findings paint a deeply concerning picture of how online scams are affecting young people's wellbeing, with nearly a million children targeted in the past year alone.
'What's particularly worrying is that 60 per cent of young people don't know where to turn for help, often leaving them to deal with both financial losses and emotional trauma in silence.'
Vodafone said it was currently blocking 1.7 million calls a day from known scammers.
It is opening a 'Phish 'N' Tips' shop in central London on February 20 to offer families free expert advice to help spot online scams and deal with them.
Anyone who has been scammed online should report it to Action Fraud or call 0300 123 2040 (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or report it to Police Scotland by calling 101 (in Scotland).