Scams and Schemes

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to ..

  • Understand what identity theft is and why it is important to guard against it.

  • Learn to recognize strategies that scam artists use to access private information.

  • Learn how to guard against phishing and identity theft.

Key Vocabulary

scam: an attempt to trick someone, usually with the intention of stealing money or private information.

identity theft: a type of crime in which your private information is stolen and used for criminal activity

vulnerable: in a position that makes it easier for you to be harmed or attacked.

phishing: when people send you phony emails, pop-up messages, social media messages, texts, calls, or links to fake websites in order to hook you into giving out your personal and financial information. Do you know someone who has been scammed? What happened? What is the purpose of a scam? What tricks do people use to carry out a scam?

Can people get scammed on the Internet? How?

What Is Identity Theft?

People who scam others online don’t always have to get money from them directly. Instead, they use a variety of strategies to trick people into giving out private information. They then use this information to access their bank and credit card accounts or other personal accounts. They can even “re-create” someone’s identity and produce false documents, such as Social Security cards, credit cards, or drivers’ licenses in someone else’s name. Thieves look for any information that might help them pretend to be their victims. Full name Date of Birth and where you were born Current and Previous Address phone numbers Driver's Licence or State IDAccount Numbers Passwords

Social Security Amazon, PayPal, Ebay, Facebook log in information

Anyone is vulnerable to an online scam. Although you might not think they’re at risk, there are a few important reasons why they are vulnerable to identity theft – and why it matters. Cover the following points:Identity thieves look for “clean” Social Security numbers that haven’t yet been used to get credit. They target teens and kids, who often have Social Security numbers that have no credit history yet. Identity thieves might sell or use these numbers, which would allow someone else to get a credit card or loan and build up debt under your name.Being a victim of identity theft can ruin your financial future and your ability to obtain loans and purchase things. For example, it could affect your ability to get a student loan for college or a loan to buy a car.In addition, if you use your parents’ accounts and credit cards online, or fill out forms with your parents’ information, you are sharing information that could potentially put your parents’ identities at risk.It can take months, even years, to recover your identity if it’s stolen. Cleaning up such a mess takes a lot of time and energy, and it can also be expensive.Catch a Phish:Many times people use Phishing to draw information from people. They use fake emails and web pages to trick people into giving personal information. Scammers will create convincing emails that try to convince you that the password needs to be reset, or that the account has suspect activity.

If they ever encounter something online that they believe might be a phishing scam, they should observe the following rules:

Avoid opening the message or email in the first place.

Don’t click on any links or download any attachments. They might contain viruses or spyware.

Don’t reply.

Mark as “junk mail” or “spam” for your email provider, or report it to your social network site.

If you are concerned about an account you have with a company, contact its customer service by phone. Make sure you verify the company’s contact information elsewhere online first. TELL students that they can also protect themselves from Internet scams by learning how identity thieves think. They will create a phishing email, or some other form of online or mobile scam, using what they learned about phishing scams

Download and complete the following

Scams and Schemes Student Handout is here:

Open the "Scams and Schemes Final Student" PDF in DocHub and Finish for homework.