Spotting scams at 10-13 — the most common tricks

①The 7 most common UK scams aimed at tweens and teens

Different scams, but they share a small set of psychological tricks. If you can spot the tricks, you can spot the scam.

②The 5 tricks all scams use

The big five:

• Urgency. "Last chance!" "Expires in 10 minutes!" "Today only!" Real prizes don't expire in 10 minutes. Real shops don't need you to decide right now.
• "You won." If you didn't enter a competition, you didn't win it. If you don't remember entering, you didn't.
• Fake authority. Pretending to be the bank, the police, HMRC, Royal Mail, Netflix, your school. Real organisations don't demand action via text or DM.
• "Easy money." Anything promising fast money with no effort is either a scam or money mule recruitment (which is a crime even if you don't know about it).
• Guilt or shame. "Don't tell your parents." "It's embarrassing." "We'll keep this between us." Adults who want to give kids money don't need secrecy.

③Free skin scams — how they work

The most common scam aimed at 10-13s. The setup:

1. You see an ad, TikTok, YouTube video or pop-up offering free in-game currency
2. Click leads to a website that looks official (Roblox, Fortnite, Epic, etc.)
3. The site asks for your username, password, or email + password
4. You enter them, the "generator" pretends to work
5. Within minutes, your real account is hijacked. The scammer changes the email and password.
6. They sell the account or strip all the items you've paid for, then move on.

Recovery is sometimes possible (Roblox, Epic, Microsoft have processes) but slow and never guaranteed.

④Fake delivery and "verification" texts

You get a text or email saying:

• "Royal Mail: your parcel is awaiting a £1.99 redelivery fee. Click here."
• "DPD: your delivery has failed. Update your address: [link]"
• "Netflix: your account will be suspended unless you verify your card."
• "Apple ID: unusual sign-in detected. Confirm here."

All scams. The link goes to a fake site that looks real, asks for your card or password, and then steals it.

Three telltale signs:

• The link doesn't go to the company's real website (royalmail.com, not "royal-mail-uk.xyz")
• The wording is slightly weird — missing capitals, odd punctuation, "kindly" instead of "please"
• You weren't expecting a parcel / Netflix doesn't communicate by text

⑤Romance / friendship scams — less common but serious

Someone new adds you on Snapchat, Instagram, Discord or a game. They're friendly, ask lots of questions, seem to care. After days or weeks they:

• Ask you to send money via crypto, Steam vouchers, or your bank app
• Ask for explicit photos and then threaten to share them unless you pay (this is called sextortion)
• Recruit you as a money mule by asking to use your bank account
• Just emotionally manipulate you for power, with money coming later

Real friends — even ones you only meet online — don't ask you for money or explicit photos. They especially don't threaten you.

⑥What to do when you spot a scam

1. Don't reply. Even "I know you're a scammer" gives them info that your number is active.
2. Don't click links. Even out of curiosity.
3. Block the sender / contact. On phone, in app, on email.
4. Report it:
   • Texts: forward to 7726 (free, works on all UK networks)
   • Emails: forward to report@phishing.gov.uk
   • Anything else: Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk
5. Tell a parent or carer. Even small scams matter. Patterns reveal themselves.

If you accidentally clicked or entered details:

• Tell a parent immediately. Don't wait until it gets worse.
• Change passwords for any accounts you used (especially the bank, email, game accounts)
• Watch your bank app for unusual activity
• If money is gone, phone the bank within 24 hours — UK banks often refund early-reported scams

NCNational Curriculum links

• England — PSHE Association KS3 L24 (financial fraud awareness)
• England — Computing KS3 (e-safety, identifying online risks)
• England — Citizenship KS3 (consumer rights, criminal law)
• Wales — Curriculum for Wales Progression Step 3-4 (Science & Technology AoLE)
• Scotland — Curriculum for Excellence HWB 3-44a, HWB 4-44a (e-safety)
• NI — LLW KS3 Personal Finance, digital safety

Full mapping in the curriculum map.