Each week, if not each day, your child spends time gaming online. Most of your child’s gaming time is spent playing video games and chatting with their friends through in-game communication or on Discord, but they also spend time searching the internet and YouTube for cheats, ways to improve in the game and ways to earn free gaming currency. While you may think that they are simply on their computer playing video games, they are doing much more which opens them up to the possibility of getting scammed with just one click. One click and they can fall far down the rabbit hole before they even know what’s hit them. Children are being scammed every single day when it comes to gaming and your child is at risk.
Gaming scams are just about everywhere, but these are some of the most popular scams that are happening to children everyday.
1. Fake Links that Look Legit
Since your child is a gamer, you know that they have set up accounts on many different gaming platforms. The communicate on different apps and in different games with friends and strangers. With their own email address, phone number, username and passwords, there are many ways for them to come across illegitimate links during the game-play.
Scammers are skilled in finding people to prey on.
In just one click, without knowing it, your child can give access to their gaming PC, their gaming accounts and other personal information to a scammer. Once the scammer has access to their gaming accounts or computer, they are able to retrieve a lot more personal information from your child.
Don’t be fooled, while you may think, “my child would never click on a link”, the list of tempting links go on and on from “Free Roblox” to “free version of CSGO”, all of which were designed to fool your gamer. When your child is gaming in their room alone or in a room with a door closed, you may not know what links they are clicking on. Make sure to educate your child about the risks as they could be devastated by a scam.
2. Gaming Currency Scams Get Kids Every time
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If there is one thing your gamer should know, it’s this: There is no such thing as FREE when it comes to gaming currency. Common scams involve receiving a message on a Fortnite chat or a Roblox chat that say:
“Want free R$? Check out this link to get your free Robux!”
There are many malicious accounts that send out mass messages to random users with malicious links. Your child may think that the link is safe because it was sent in the game chat, but clicking on a link in a message is dangerous.
An 11-year old girl, who begged her parents for 20,000 Robux during the pandemic, bought two new faces for her avatar and was scammed for them the very next day. She was tricked by another player in a trade and after he stole her faces, he blocked her so that she couldn’t find him.
Scams like this happen frequently on Roblox and in many other video games. While your child is playing, there are many other players who are skilled in taking advantage of children. It is important to remind your child that they shouldn’t trust people they don’t know.
3. Video Game Hacks
Imagine how you would feel if your bank account was hacked. You would be devastated.
As an adult, you might have protection from the bank and you would be able to recover most of the funds, but it would cause feelings of violation, a ton of aggravation, lost time and a lot of stress.
For your child, getting their video game hacked is as bad as your bank account in their eyes.
Too often are gamers accounts being hacked and stolen. Your child’s digital assets are as important, if not more important to them, than physical assets. Stolen passwords are often the culprit of a video game hack. Passwords that are shared with others, passwords that are commonly used and and passwords that are frequently used time and time again by the same user are more likely to be stolen and used to hack and steal your child’s information. To a serious gamer who spends a large amount of time gaming, a loss of their account and inventory can be quote devastating.
Scams are on the Rise
In 2020, gaming scams increased dramatically as access to video games increased with the rise of the pandemic. Your chid’s love of video games may make them a target for scams along with other young games. It’s easier to get a password or credit card number from a child than it is an adult (in most cases). Children are trusting and they can also be easy to fool. When a “friend” promises to “help” them win a game or to give them “free” stuff, it can be hard for your child to say no.
While video game use is on the rise and has been since early 2020, scammers are following the trend and rising up in the shadows.
How to Protect Your Child from Online Scams
- Only buy gaming currencies from official websites. NEVER buy currencies from a site you have been redirected to. Never accept free currencies from anyone who says they will give them to you. There is no such thing as free currency!
- Never share personal information with someone online. Remind you child not to respond to personal messages, emails or chat messages where you are being asked for any personal information. Remember, most gamers don’t care who they are playing against, they just want to play and have fun. If someone is asking your child for personal information, they should always be suspicious.
- Never share your password. Don’t share it with friends and never share it with a stranger online. Any time you share your login information or password, you are at risk.
- Explain to your child that if they are ever concerned that they have been involved in a scam, it is important to tell you immediately. The sooner you know, the sooner you can do damage control by cancelling credit cards, changing passwords etc.