New research released by the UK Safer Internet Centre reveals that exposure to scams is a regular part of life online for young people, with 79% of 8 -17 year olds coming across scams online at least once a month, almost half (45%) at least once a week, and 20% seeing scams online every day.
The research found that almost half of 8 -17 year olds (46%) have been scammed online and 9% have lost money to an online scam before – highlighting the critical need for more support to tackle online crime and help young people stay safe online.
The research also found that 83% of parents and carers feel there are more scams than ever before, a view shared by almost half of children (47%). In addition, 81% of parents and carers and 43% of teens feel that online scams are getting more convincing, and around a third of young people (32%) worry that the use of new technology, such as gen AI, will make scams much harder to identify.