Parents all over are petitioning to remove offensive and inappropriate works in books and movies, yet no action has been taken to protect children from social media. From deceptive schemes to malicious attacks, young users are increasingly becoming targets for scams and hacks through social media. It’s crucial for parents to recognize and take proper steps in order to protect their children online.
Today’s influx of young kids online presents a gold mine for people trying to steal their information. About half of parents with children ages 10 to 12 and 32% of parents of kids ages 7 to 9 reported their child used social media apps in the first six months of last year according to the 2023 C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.
“64% of parents are unaware if children have been bothered or upset by something that has happened to their child online. 59% of parents are unaware how often their child has been upset by something online. Only 26% of parents think their child can cope with things online that bother or upset them,” Aine Lynch, renowned Children’s Health Specialist.
According to a school survey, 50% of respondents said they were given a cell phone between the ages 10 and 12 and about 35% said they received one before they turned 10. It has been normalized for the next generation of kids to be comfortable with technology at a \young age. This makes it easier for scammers and hackers to prey on unsuspecting children.
“Yeah, I think if I was a little older I would’ve been smarter and known it was fake,” sophomore Lucy Grey, victim of a social media hacking said.
Not all hackers and scammers are easily identifiable. Some tend to use accounts of their former victims to lure new ones.
“I thought it was a real person because there were posts under their TikTok,” said Grey, “They said they wanted to offer me $2000 and all I had to do was scan a check. When I agreed, they hacked into my bank account, and said if I didn’t give them my TikTok password they would steal all my money.”
Afterwards, the scammer used Grey’s account to impersonate her as well. Her advice was to think wisely about the accounts contacting you. You never know who has been hacked.
“My friend’s account reached out asking me for help,” Aleah Rodriguez said, “I knew she had been in similar trouble before, so I ended up trying to help her. Then low and behold my account got taken from me”.
Rodriguez said the experience completely blindsided her. At the time she was 11 years old, and said her lack of experience made her too trusting on social media. All she could do was report the account, and tell others to block it and do the same.
“I felt like my privacy had been invaded,” Rodriguez said “And I felt like everything had been taken from me.”
Rodriguez and Grey were unable to get their accounts back, and said they had learned to be more cautious in the future. Their advice is to be vigilant and if you’re offered something that seems too good to be true, then it probably is.
“People don’t just get 2000 dollars for free,” Grey said.
