One in two teenagers has clicked on a link that turned out to be a scam. Polish teenagers barely pass the fact-checking test
- 80 per cent of teenagers aged 16-18 have at some time received a message with a suspicious link.
- Only half of the teenagers surveyed check the veracity of information found online.
- The main source of cyber-safety knowledge for younger teens is home and school, and for older teens TikTok and YouTube.
The return to school is a good time to start learning about cyber security. This difficult-sounding term covers a range of skills and knowledge that are almost indispensable in everyday life.
A survey carried out for the Finansiaki project by Santander Bank Polska, shows that older teenagers aged 16-18 learn about online safety mainly from Internet sources (65 per cent), such as YouTube (43 per cent) and TikTok (41 per cent). For younger ones, parents (61 per cent) and teachers (55 per cent) are the experts on the subject. Parents, on the other hand, most often draw their knowledge of online safety from websites (61 per cent) and television (41 per cent).
Cyber threats – what are teenagers afraid of?
When it comes to safety and the dangers of using the internet, teenagers aged 16-18 are most afraid of money theft (73 per cent) and data leaks (63 per cent), while younger teens (12-15) are most afraid of image exploitation (64 per cent) and account seizures (63 per cent). As for adults, almost 80 per cent of parents surveyed admit to being afraid of money theft, identity theft and data leakage. Younger teens are also almost twice as likely as older teens to be concerned about online heckling and cyberbullying.
Online threats affect us all, regardless of age. Parents and older teenagers are most concerned about money theft. As a bank, we educate on how to use the web safely, including the online and mobile banking that is part of the daily life of many of us. The survey showed that the use of different platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok, is becoming increasingly important if we want to reach different age groups and educate in an attractive and accessible way.
Fact-checking exam
As teenagers get older, the need to verify information found online increases. 55 per cent of respondents aged 12-15 and 61 per cent of those aged 16-18 always or often check the veracity of the information they read. However, the percentage of teenagers who are not in the habit of checking the credibility of online content is high. In the case of parents, this is almost 30 per cent of those surveyed.
When it comes to how they check the credibility of information, respondents aged 16-18, like adults, are most likely to read what other well-known media outlets write about a topic (68 per cent) and verify sources (65 per cent). Younger respondents, on the other hand, are more likely to ask family members (48 per cent) or friends and acquaintances (38 per cent).
More than half of teenagers have clicked on a dangerous link
When verifying whether a link is safe, all respondents agree that the most important thing is to check that the sender of the message is known to them. However, this is not enough. A popular type of scam to trick people out of their personal data or steal money is to impersonate someone’s social media account. As many as 80 per cent of 16-18-year-olds surveyed had received a suspicious social media message from a friend who had fallen victim to a hacker, and 31 per cent of them admitted to clicking on the link sent. For children aged 12-15, 43 per cent of respondents had received this type of message and 21 per cent had clicked on a dangerous link. As respondents get older, they become more aware of what to look out for to make sure the message they receive is safe.
Scam, or online fraud, takes many forms, from fake news to phone scams. To protect yourself from it, it's worth being always vigilant and never sharing sensitive data with unknown people or businesses. As the study shows, more than 50% of teenagers have clicked on a dangerous link sent by a friend. This is why it is so important to instruct young people not to open suspicious messages and to verify the sender. It is important that they pay attention to whether someone is trying to persuade them to click on a link or open an attachment and is creating time pressure or threatening them with some consequences.
