Teens targeted by social media scams

As many as one in four teenagers has fallen for a scam on social media, according to Westpac research, putting the onus on parents and service providers to do more to keep young people safe online. 

The research also pointed to a lack of awareness about scam threats, not just among young people, but their parents also. 

When presented with seven common scam scenarios only 39 per cent of teenage respondents were able to identify a potential threat in all of them. The figure was similar among parents given the same scenarios, underlining the need for better education across all age cohorts. 

Carolyn McCann, Westpac Group Executive, Customer and Corporate Services, says its essential for businesses and parents to work together to better protect teens on social media. 

"It's incredibly concerning how prevalent scams are among under-18s. These teenagers are seeking connection with family and friends online but instead falling victim to scammers in record numbers,” McCann said. 

"While we continue to invest in tools and technologies to help protect parents, kids and their money, there needs to be a community effort to prevent scammers from being able to leverage social media to take advantage of teens."

The research showed that teenagers are most vulnerable to buying and selling scams, with 10 per cent of survey respondents admitting to being caught out. 

Online shopping has become a part of everyday life for many people, but young people are particularly vulnerable to bad actors luring them in with attractive, but fake, offers for desirable items.  

In July, Westpac rolled out new parental controls on its youth accounts, to help parents track the spending habits of their kids as well as help to educate them on managing their money safely. 

The controls and safety features include daily payment and weekly spending limits, notifications to parents on account activity, mandatory signatories for under-14 account holders and payment blocks on certain high-risk transactions. 

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"Education is key to prevention,” McCann says. “While our robust parental controls and safety features will lessen the financial impact of scams on teens – close to four in five (78 per cent) teenagers say they learnt how to detect and avoid social media scams from their family.”

For more information about keeping children safe online, visit www.esafety.gov.au/parents and Westpac website.