Three ways to protect your kids from phone scams

A kid’s first phone, smart watch or other online device is a big step towards independence. But ready access to the internet also could expose your child to online scammers, many of whom specifically target children. To ensure your kids’ safety, here are some tips for responsible online activity. 

#1: Make your kid security-conscious 

One of the main ways that your kid’s personal information can get in the hands of scammers is through what are known as data brokers. These are people who buy and sell data, often from mainstream sources like public records or social media profiles.

If a child uses her home address and name when, for example, signing up for a mobile game, that data could end up in the hands of data brokers. And data brokers have been known to sell people’s information directly to scammers.  

Whenever possible, your kid should avoid sharing personal information like their name, phone number and address online. But that’s not always possible. Many important apps, like WhatsApp, Messenger and the like require some data sharing, for example. 

To make your kid conscious of the risks posed by sharing information, consider having your kid keep a list of every place they’ve shared their personal information online. This could help make your kid think before giving their information to websites or strangers. And if they get a scam call, you can encourage your kid to speculate about where the scammer got their information. 

#2: Put your kid on the national “do not call” registry

One easy thing you can do to minimize your kid’s contact with strangers is by putting your kid on the national Do Not Call registry. 

It’s free and easy to put a phone number on that registry, and once a number is on that list, it becomes illegal for telemarketers to call. 

Being on the registry won’t stop scammers, who, of course, don’t follow the law. But it will at least make it a lot easier to identify scammers, since most other callers will be filtered out. 

You can put a number on the Do Not Call registry here. 

#3: Turn it into a challenge 

No matter what precautions you take, it’s almost guaranteed that once your kid gets a phone, they’ll be exposed to scammers. So after you take the measures listed above, you should also make sure that your kid has the information they need to identify scams — and more importantly, avoid falling for them. 

PIRG has a helpful guide to the giveaway signs of online scammers, which include misspellings and cash prizes or other offers that are just too good to be true. 

Encourage your child to come to you right away if they see any suspicious messages. You could even make a game of it by telling your kid to act like a detective and list the reasons that they think a call or text might not be legitimate. 

With access to information about scammer tactics, your kid will have what they need to become an internet-savvy sleuth in no time. 

There’s a lot we can do to mitigate the dangers of our kids’ online exposure, but one of the best ways is by encouraging decision-makers to make the internet safer for everybody. That’s why we’re calling on the Federal Trade Commission to protect kids’ personal information from data brokers.