Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Citizenship
CitizenshipMoney while you grow up30 min★★ difficulty

Scams aimed at young people

Scammers target young people deliberately: fake gift giveaways, dodgy game-currency sites, too-good marketplace deals. Learn the patterns once and you are hard to fool.

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

  • • Free currency that costs your account
  • • The prize you never entered
  • • Marketplace traps
  • • The three-question check

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

functionsimportancepracticebudgetingmanaging

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 18 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 18

Watch first

Scams aimed at young people

An English teaching video on this topic from Learn Bright. 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

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 18

Before we start

What you already know

You know what online payments and in-game purchases are.

3

Key words

Part 3 of 18

Key words

Words you'll need today

scam
A trick designed to take your money or account details.
phishing
A fake message pretending to be a real company to steal your details.
marketplace
A site or app where people buy and sell second-hand.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 18

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 — The scams that target you

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 18

Learn

Free currency that costs your account

'Free V-Bucks' or 'free Robux' sites ask for your login or card details and deliver nothing — except a stolen account or a card bill. No game gives its paid currency away on random websites. The only safe place to buy currency is inside the game itself or its official store.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 18

Learn

The prize you never entered

'You've won a phone! Just pay £2 postage.' You never entered, so you cannot have won. The £2 is not the prize — your card details are, and they can be used for much bigger payments. Any win that asks for money or details first is a scam. Real prizes never charge the winner.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 18

Quick check

'Free Robux' sites that want your login are...

8

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.

Stop here for now
9

Quick check

Part 9 of 18

Quick check

You 'won' a prize but must pay £2 postage. This is...

10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 18

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 — The checks that stop them

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 18

Learn

Marketplace traps

Buying from strangers online: pay inside the platform so you get its protection, never by bank transfer to someone you do not know, and be suspicious of prices far below everyone else's — a £60 games console that is £350 everywhere else does not exist. If a seller pushes you to move to another app to pay, walk away.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 18

Learn

The three-question check

Before any payment online, ask: Did I look for this, or did it come to me? Is there pressure to act right now? Would I be embarrassed to tell an adult about it? A yes to any of these is a stop sign. And telling an adult early is not grassing on yourself — it is exactly what the scammer hopes you will not do.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 18

Quick check

Safest way to pay a stranger on a marketplace?

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 18

Quick check

A price far below every other seller usually means...

15

Common mix-ups

Part 15 of 18

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • Thinking scams only target old people — young targets lose money to game and marketplace scams every day.
  • Believing a small 'postage' payment is safe to risk.
  • Feeling too embarrassed to tell anyone, which lets the scam grow.
16

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

17

Mastery quiz

Part 17 of 18

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Scams aimed at young people

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. The only safe place to buy game currency is...

  2. 2. A message creates pressure to act NOW. You should...

  3. 3. A seller wants to move payment to another app. You...

  4. 4. If you have been caught by a scam, the right move is...

  5. 5. Phishing means...

  6. 6. Which is a stop sign before paying online?

18

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 Luna

Do 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.

Case study

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

  1. Give the strongest point on each side of the argument, using a fact from the case.
  2. Whose rights and whose responsibilities are involved here? Explain both.
  3. Write your own view on the curfew with reasons and one example.

  • Reading and response

    Reading

    Read 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

    Writing

    Write 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

    Reading

    Find 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

    Writing

    Write the strongest point for, the strongest point against, and then your own view with a reason.

    3 paragraphs

  • Poster or leaflet plan

    Diagram

    Plan 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

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