Published in News

Online scammers target teens

by on21 September 2010


Need someone more stupid
Online scammers are starting to gear their schemes to target rich kids without any brains. For years, online scams have looked for the terminally dumb who will write large cheques to people in Nigeria for no apparent reason.

Now, according to AP it seems they are looking to move into a niche market realising that rich kids have a lot of cash and can be just as stupid as their parents.

According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commissioner Peter Kell, deputy chairman of the ACCC, said often young people did not understand their rights on the web. ''They may be technologically savvy [but] they can be easy targets.''

The most common scam involves ads for jobs that require applicants to send money for ''training''. Other common areas include online shopping, social networking and travel offers. One of the big ones that kids fall for are travel scams which have unknown companies claiming victims have won awards.
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