Students Should Learn About Phishing

Uploaded on 2023-12-29 in FREE TO VIEW, Education & Research

Online fraud is perhaps the most common form of crime today and one effect of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making it much more widespread and harder to detect. Experts are saying that fraud has become so frequent and sophisticated that far more people are being affected.

The common misconception is that older people are the most likely to fall victim to fraud, but the surprising truth is that the group most harmed is young adults.

Indeed, various studies have found that that young adults aged 18 to 24 are being increasingly targeted by fraudsters and are far more likely to fall prey to an impersonation scam. Students can be particularly vulnerable to financial crime scams, especially those experiencing life away from home and from the guidance of parents for the first time. “Scammers will try to trick students into giving away personal and financial information by sending fake emails (phishing) and texts (smishing), or calling and pretending to be from SLC, Student Finance England (SFE), or other legitimate organisations, ahead of the January payment dates,” says the UK Government.

Furthermore, the number of teenagers aged 13 to 17 falling prey to scams because of the popularity of online gaming in this age group and many schools worldwide have introduced online safety programs as part of the school curriculum. However, many of these are focused on dealing with online abuse and safety on social media, not on how to protect yourself from online scams.

The experts at Techxplore have suggested that fraud prevention should be taught in schools and universities as part of the curriculum. They advocate that programs to teach each specific age group should be developed and tested for effectiveness.

Following the implementation of Britain's Online Harms legislation this year, there is growing pressure on on government and law enforcement agencies around the world to introduce stronger measures to provide greater protection to young people.

TechXplore: Gov.UK: NatWest Bank: I-HLS: Kings College London: Bournemouth Univ: Rightly:

Image: Ivan Samkov

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