Financial Scams Targeting Kids and Teens
Much attention is given to financial scams targeting the elderly, but there is a whole host of scams out there targeting children and teenagers. Minors are a common target because almost all of their income is discretionary and their social security numbers are “dormant.”
In this blog, we will be discussing the common scams children, teens, and their guardians must be on the lookout for. Falling for these tricks can lead to irretrievable payments and identity theft.
Counterfeit Goods
This is a very common scam that pops up everywhere online. Advertisements will be placed on Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, etc. publicizing cheap designer goods, electronics, or jewelry. The advertisement will lead to a legitimate looking online store with too good to be true deals.
When a purchase is made, the buyer will either receive a cheap knockoff of the item being advertised, or they will never get anything in the mail. By the time the buyer realizes the scam, the website is deleted and there is no way to contact the seller and get a refund.
With the rise of ecommerce and small online businesses, it is easy to fall for these tricks and believe the shop is simply a new up-and-coming business. To avoid falling for this scam, always research the shop before purchasing. See if there are any independent reviews of the shop to advocate for the legitimacy of it and use common sense to decide of the deals being offered are believable. A good rule of thumb to follow is to never purchase a designer or branded item (such as an iPhone) from anywhere but known affiliated retailers.
Info Farming
Info farming is an identity theft scam that targets groups of all ages. The methods to specifically target children and teenagers are false employment opportunities, fake credit card applications, and fake contests.
These will show up as sponsored advertisements on social media or as popup ads on websites. They will prompt the user to put in identifying information such as name, address, and social security number. The fake contests are even more insidious as they look completely harmless on the surface, asking for things like email addresses and “silly” questions such as the name of your first pet – these questions always line up with common security questions.
Once the information is given, the scammer is given full access to steal the user’s identity. And minors’ social security numbers are as they lie dormant and unused (most minors don’t take out their first loan until college), and no one typically checks their credit report.
False Money Transfers
This is just the modern version of the same old bounced check scam. With this scam, a random user will send you money through peer-to-peer transfer apps like Venmo, CashApp, and Zelle. They will then text the phone number attached to your account and say they sent the money to the wrong person, so could you please send the money back, typically to a different phone number than the one contacting you.
By the time you send off the money, the original payment to you will have bounced, taking both the bounced transaction and the money you sent out of your account.
Never, never, never send a payment to someone you don’t personally know. If someone random sends you money then asks you to send it to someone else, ignore them and report the transaction to the app.
Fake Scholarships
This scam specifically targets teenagers who are researching for scholarships. An advertisement for a fake scholarship will be placed in the search and the teen will fill out the application believing it to be real. This is another method of info farming to get access to their social security.
To avoid this, make sure to only apply to scholarships feature directly on the university’s website or on a trusted scholarship database such as scholarships.com or collegeboard.org, or recommended by a college advisor.
Another common scam is fake scholarship advisors asking for payment in exchange for help with scholarship applications. They will claim that if the teen just gives them some basic information, they will be able to research and apply to scholarships for them to help ease the burden. After payment is taken, the scammer will disappear with both the money and the teenager’s information.
These services are almost always a scam. The best way to get help finding and applying for scholarships is through your high school’s advising office.