During summer, scammers change their target audience. While adults are busy with work, children spend more time online and in online games. This is why, during summer vacations, the number of cyber attacks on children and teenagers increases. However, the criminals' goal remains the same: to gain access to accounts, devices, and in the worst case, to the financial resources of parents.
Mechanism of Deception․ From “Bonuses” to Real Damage
Scammers choose the most popular games among children (Minecraft, Roblox, Brawl Stars, Counter-Strike) and operate through in-game chats, thematic Telegram channels, TikTok, and YouTube videos.
Here are the most common schemes they use:
- “Free in-game currency” or “rare mod”: The child is offered to follow a link to receive free in-game currency or download a modified version of the game. The site may look exactly like the real one but is created to steal usernames and passwords. Sometimes, instead of a link, they send a ready-made file, which, when downloaded, contains malware — viruses.
- “Tournament with prizes”: An invitation to participate in a gaming tournament is spread through messengers or videos. The condition for participation is to send the account recovery code to the organizers. At the moment the code is shared, the scammers seize the gaming account, after which they either demand money for its return or send spam messages from the victim's name.
- “Earn just by playing”: In chats, they offer money for testing a new game or registering on a new social network. During registration, personal data is collected, after which attempts to extort money begin — either from the child or from their friends.
- “Administrator requests verification”: This scheme is especially common in the CS2 game. The child receives a message from someone claiming to be the server administrator, accusing them of using cheats and offering to download and run a special program for “verification.” In reality, the archive contains a remote access program. Once launched, the scammer gains full control of the computer, allowing them to monitor actions, steal accounts, or even lock the computer.
It’s Important
There are also schemes where scammers do not limit themselves to just gaming accounts. They convince the child to take the parent's phone, log into the banking app, and “help make a payment” or “confirm a transaction.” In such cases, the damage is measured in real money, not just in-game purchases.
In all these cases, the scammers' main calculation is based on the child's trust, gaming enthusiasm, and inability to critically assess the “too good to be true” offers from strangers.
Legal Trap
The danger of these schemes is that everything appears to be actions taken by the user themselves: they followed the link, entered the password, downloaded the file. If the child used the parent's phone and made a transfer via the banking app, the transaction is considered confirmed by the device's owner. As a result, clarifying the situation becomes much more complicated, and recovering money and data is almost impossible.
IDBank Recommends
- Explain to the child the most important rule: “free in-game currency” and overly beneficial offers from strangers are always scams.
- Teach them to never download files from links received in gaming chats. Download all apps and mods only from official sources and app stores.
- Always check the addresses of gaming websites. Fake sites often look very similar to real ones but have additional signs or letters in the address.
- Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for all gaming accounts with email or SMS confirmation.
- Do not give children phones where banking apps are accessible without a separate password or biometric authentication. Financial apps should be reliably protected.
- Be interested in what and where your child is playing. Calm conversations and mutual trust are the best prevention. Don’t scare the child, but explain the potential risks.
Remember․ Your child's favorite game can become the most powerful tool for scammers. And the only protection is the trust established in the family, clear rules, and constant vigilance.
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