Identity thieves are increasingly targeting kids

Your 20-year-old is scrolling through her email when she receives a notification that it’s time to renew her one-year “geek squad” maintenance service plan for $345. The plan will automatically renew, the email said, unless they hear from her right away.

Then there’s this one: Your college-age son receives an email supposedly from Norton LifeLock telling him that the software antivirus subscription is about to renew and that $350 will be deducted from his checking account unless he calls the number provided to reverse the transaction.

Finally, this one to your college grad school student: “My name is Wright. I have an investment proposal to share with you, and I was wondering if I am reaching out to the rightful email address.”

All three are scams and all landed in my in-box over a day or two in January. I deleted all of them but not before calling the phone number supposedly for Norton. Big surprise, it was no longer a working number.

What cybercriminals are after is your money and identity information — usually both — and their creativity knows no bounds.

While I’ve had plenty of practice over the years in identifying fraudulent pitches, what about your tech-savvy, trustworthy kids? Would their caution sensor go off ?

Increasingly, online criminals are targeting young people, according to the FBI and social media researchers. That trend has been evident for awhile, but it’s getting worse.

A recent report from Social Catfish, a technology company that focuses on preventing online scams, found that techsavvy teens are falling for online scams at higher rates than seniors.

While the report said seniors still remain the most victimized group overall, the surge in money lost by victims under 20 years old has grown rapidly in the last five years.

In a separate report from the FBI, more than $101 million was lost in online scams in 2021 alone by people under the age of

20. The FBI also reported receiving nearly 15,000 cyber-scam reports from people 19 and younger in 2021. The real costs are probably higher because many choose not to report the scam.

As I’ve said before, young people are vulnerable targets because they spend so much of their daily life online. Sooner or later, odds are high that even your computer whiz teen will be victimized.

What’s compounding the problem is that parents — and grandparents — are not even casually monitoring the online activity of their kids or grandkids, according to research.

Among the most common scams aimed at our kids: scams where kids are blackmailed after sending compromising photos of themselves; various forms of online shopping scams, especially online gaming scams urging players to make in-game purchases; talent scout scams promising fame and fortune; and fraudulent offers promising college scholarships or student loan repayment assistance for a fee.

Here are some steps to help the young people in your family steer clear of harm’s way.

Look for opportunities to have a conversation. This is priority No. 1 in my book. How can you make this easy? Mention a scam you saw in your email or that you heard about on the news. Ask what they would do if they had noticed the scam.

Go over the basics. For example, don’t accept everyone who asks to be your friend on social media. Think twice about opening a link from a person or company you don’t know. Choose unique passwords for every site you use. Sign up for free fraud alerts from your bank when your account appears to have been compromised.

Pay attention to red flags. These are email messages with incomplete sentences and misspelled words, lots of words in capital letters and requests for personal information, such as Social Security numbers and bank accounts.

Finally, pay attention to your gut feelings. If something doesn’t pass your smell test, delete, delete and delete.