Last updated by Stephanie Rosser on Tuesday, February 18, 2025

When people think about online scams, they often think about financial scams targeted at older people, or at adults in general. However, children can also be targeted.

The UK Safer Internet Centre has published a report on children and young people’s exposure to online scams. The report draws data from a survey carried out with 2,013 children aged 8- to 17-years-old and their parents. Findings show:

• 79% of children are coming across scams online at least once a month
• 27% of parents and carers say their child has been the victim of an online scam
• 26% of children who had been scammed said they blamed themselves.

The report highlights the emotional impact on children and a culture of victim-blaming surrounding online scams. 

The Digital Futures for Children centre has also published a blog post titled The many faces of online scams – four key deceptions targeted at children. The blog sets out existing research and ways children can be targeted online, such as: 

• deceptive design features
• technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse
• artificial intelligence (AI) related manipulation
• online games.