Scams, fraud and protecting your money
Modern fraud does not pick locks; it borrows a logo and creates a sense of hurry. Almost every scam has the same shape, and once you can see the shape you stop falling for new versions of it.
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Understand the functions and uses of money, the importance and practice of budgeting, and managing risk
Key learning points
- • The shape of a scam
- • Common versions
- • Practical protection
- • If it happens
This lesson at a glance
- 30 minutes
- 18 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- Marked quiz at the end
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 18
Watch first
Scams, fraud and protecting your money
An English teaching video on this topic from HSBC UK. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.
In a nutshell
Understand the functions and uses of money, the importance and practice of budgeting, and managing risk
What you already know
Part 2 of 18
Before we start
What you already know
You know how bank accounts, cards and insurance work.
Key words
Part 3 of 18
Key words
Words you'll need today
- Phishing
- A fake message pretending to be a trusted organisation to steal details.
- Smishing
- Phishing by text message, often with a link to a fake login page.
- Authorised push payment fraud
- Being tricked into sending money yourself, so the payment looks genuine.
- Money mule
- Someone who moves criminal money through their own account, which is a crime.
- Two-factor authentication
- A second check, such as a code or app approval, on top of a password.
- Chargeback
- A way to reverse a card payment when goods or services were not provided.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 18
Learning cycle 1 of 2
How scams are built
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 18
Learn
The shape of a scam
Nearly every scam combines four ingredients: authority (a bank, HMRC, a delivery firm), urgency (act now or lose access), an unusual payment route (transfer, gift card, crypto), and secrecy (do not discuss this with anyone). Recognising the combination matters more than memorising individual stories, because the stories change monthly while the structure does not.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 18
Learn
Common versions
A text claiming a parcel needs a small redelivery fee, leading to a fake card page. A call from 'your bank' saying your account is compromised and money must be moved to a 'safe account' — banks never ask this. A too-good listing on a marketplace where the seller wants a bank transfer instead of a protected payment. A message from a hacked friend's account asking for help. And offers of 'easy money' for letting cash pass through your account, which makes you a money mule and can end in prosecution and losing banking access for years.
Quick check
Part 7 of 18
Quick check
Which combination signals a scam?
Reset break
Part 8 of 18
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 9 of 18
Quick check
Your 'bank' phones and asks you to move money to a safe account. You should
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 18
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Protecting yourself and reporting
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 18
Learn
Practical protection
Never click a link in an unexpected message; go to the app or type the address yourself. Never read out a one-time passcode to anyone who rings you. Use two-factor authentication, a different password on your email account, and a password manager rather than reuse. Pay for goods with a card or a protected method rather than a bank transfer, because card payments can be disputed through chargeback. Ask someone before acting when you feel rushed — pressure is the tool.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 18
Learn
If it happens
Act fast and without embarrassment: contact your bank straight away, as most UK banks are signed up to reimburse many innocent victims of authorised push payment fraud. Report to Action Fraud, and forward suspicious texts to 7726 free of charge. Change passwords starting with email. Being scammed is not stupidity — professional teams do this full time, and the fastest recoveries come from people who report immediately.
Quick check
Part 13 of 18
Quick check
Letting someone pay money through your account for a fee makes you
Quick check
Part 14 of 18
Quick check
For an expensive item from an unknown online seller, safer payment is
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 18
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Assuming a caller is genuine because they know your name, address or last transaction. Data leaks are widely traded.
- Trusting a number shown on caller display. Numbers are easily spoofed.
- Thinking a bank transfer is as protected as a card payment. It is much harder to recover.
- Believing only inexperienced people get scammed. Confident, busy people are targeted precisely because they act fast.
- Treating 'move your money to a safe account' as real advice. No genuine bank ever says it.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 18
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 17 of 18
Marked quiz
End of lesson quiz: Scams, fraud and protecting your money
6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.
1. Suspicious texts in the UK can be forwarded free to
2. A one-time passcode should be shared with
3. Caller display showing your bank's number proves
4. The first thing to do after realising you have been scammed is
5. Two-factor authentication helps because
6. Urgency is used in scams because
Lesson round-up
Part 18 of 18
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
Should the town centre have a curfew for under-16s?
After a rise in reported vandalism, Harbrook council proposed that under-16s should not be in the town centre after 9 pm without an adult. Police recorded 62 incidents last year, most between 9 pm and midnight. Shopkeepers signed a petition supporting the plan.
A youth council objected. They pointed out that most young people in town at night were going home from sports clubs or work, that the plan punishes a whole group for the acts of a few, and that the library and the bus interchange are in the town centre. They asked instead for a late bus and a youth space.
The council voted to trial the curfew for six months and to publish the crime figures at the end.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Give the strongest point on each side of the argument, using a fact from the case.
- Whose rights and whose responsibilities are involved here? Explain both.
- Write your own view on the curfew with reasons and one example.
Reading and response
ReadingRead the case in the lesson again and write what you think should happen, and why it is fair. Use one fact from the case as evidence.
2 paragraphs (PEE)
Extended writing
WritingWrite your answer to the lesson's big question in full: the strongest point on each side, then your own view with reasons and an example.
250–350 words
Reading log
ReadingFind one news story this week that links to this lesson. Note the headline, where you read it, and how it connects.
1 story, 4–5 sentences
Two sides of the argument
WritingWrite the strongest point for, the strongest point against, and then your own view with a reason.
3 paragraphs
Poster or leaflet plan
DiagramPlan a leaflet that explains this right or responsibility to someone your age, then photograph it.
1 planned page
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover