Ozon Bank reports a surge in scams tailored to teenagers, involving fake shops, phishing, and gaming frauds, highlighting the need for increased digital safety awareness among minors.
Ahead of the new school year, Ozon Bank says a growing share of fraud aimed at children is being tailored to the habits of teenagers, with online purchases from private sellers and fake shops in messengers and social networks now accounting for one in four cases involving children under 15. The bank said it examined several hundred unique fraud cases in which minors lost their own money or family funds.
The most common trap involves bargain-hunting on unverified marketplaces. Children are lured by prices below market value and asked to pay in advance for phones, clothes or gaming accounts, only for the seller to disappear and block them. A similar pattern appears in gaming, which accounts for 15% of cases, where fraudsters pose as fellow players and promise in-game currency, rare items, cheat codes or account access.
Phishing remains another major risk. Ozon and the cybersecurity company F.A.C.C.T. blocked nearly 11,500 phishing websites in the first half of 2023 that misused the Ozon name, according to Retail.ru and anti-malware.ru. Many of those sites copied familiar shopping pages or dangled offers of easy money, a reminder that scams aimed at young users often mix e-commerce lures with social engineering.
The bank also found that 12% of incidents involved phishing links sent through popular classifieds or social platforms, while 10% centred on fake prizes that required a small “fee” or “commission” to claim. Another 8% involved promises of easy earnings, including pseudo-investment schemes and supposed side jobs. In some cases, victims were even given tiny initial payouts before being pressed for larger transfers to “activate” an account.
Less common, but still damaging, were cases involving lost cards or payment stickers, which made up 7% of incidents, and children handing over bank log-in details or one-time SMS codes, at 6%. Ozon Bank said callers pretending to be from a bank, law enforcement or worried relatives accounted for just 4% of cases, while remote access scams and cryptocurrency-related fraud each made up 3%. The broader backdrop remains severe: the Russian central bank said banks prevented fraudulent thefts worth 5.8 trillion roubles in 2023, yet 1.17 million successful fraud transactions still slipped through, stealing 15.8 billion roubles.
The bank’s advice is simple: children should never send money outside an official platform, should avoid suspicious links, must not share SMS codes or account passwords, and should report anything unusual to parents at once. If a card or payment sticker is lost, it should be blocked immediately.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
