1. Fraud, scams and commercial exploitation

2. The dangers Children are still generally quite trusting and uncritical about what they read online They are therefore more susceptible to deception and con tricks

3. Competitions Children love competitions and interactive features in general The Internet is awash with them

4. Competitions Often the organisers make them look appealing so children and young people find web competitions very exciting They can enter them easily and instantly - there’s no need to collect vouchers and put them in the post - a few clicks and it’s done

5. Competitions The problem with them is that, of course some are genuine, others are bogus Often the aim for the organisers of these hoax contests is simply to collect personal information so that they can later bombard the entrants with advertising

6. Online shopping To young people, online shopping seems so natural In the USA, children already do about 15% of all their spending on the Internet

7. Online shopping A lot of companies specifically target their marketing at young people To persuade them to buy, companies use tactics that children go for like web pages with lots of colour, animation, interactivity plus low prices

8. Scams The Internet has given a new lease of life to age-old con tricks such as pyramid schemes and chain letters

9. Scams The Internet makes it very easy for con artists to rip people off, hide and move on if necessary The scams take many forms - emails making promises of easy money and free gifts are quite common

10. Phishing This is an email which appears to come from your bank or other financial institution Within the email is a link which, when clicked on, takes you to a website - it is not the actual website of your bank but a copycat site

11. Phishing You'll be asked to enter your bank account number and password The fraudsters then have all they need to access your online bank accounts

12. Phishing No legitimate bank will ever ask you to confirm personal details via email In particular, they’ll never ask you to confirm your password or PIN number in this way A threat to close down your account if you don’t comply is always a giveaway Never click on the link contained in the emails

13. An example of a phishing email

14. Phishing Report the incident to your actual bank straightaway If you want to check your account, you should type the bank or company website directly into your web browser, or add a bookmark, rather than following links in an email If you are unsure if an email you receive is legitimate, visit the companies website directly, phone the company, or contact their Customer Services or fraud department

15. Top 10 phishing scams Look out for email messages like this: –Please confirm your data. –NatWest Bank: please confirm your data! –Please Confirm Your Information! –NatWest Bank: please confirm your data. –NatWest Bank: Please Confirm Your Data! –NatWest Bank customer service: secure details confirmation –NatWest Bank customer service: please confirm your data! –NatWest Bank customer service: online client form released –Customer notification: data confirmation –Chase Bank: customer details confirmation!

16. CyberSafety tips It is very important you get children to check with an adult first before they enter any online competitions Check the company behind the competition is reputable and is bona fide - it is very easy to build a fake website so look out for impostors. Install www.siteadvisor.com – it’s a free piece of software that tells you how safe websites arewww.siteadvisor.com Read the competition rules and terms and conditions very carefully, if there are any - you want to make sure that the company organising the competition will not pass on details to other companies

17. CyberSafety tips When online, make sure your children are more cynical and treat things they come across as suspicious unless they have evidence to prove otherwise Never let your kids buy anything unless you are there. Never leave your credit or debit cards – or the statements – lying around the house Never give your credit or debit card number to your children to type into a website - when it comes to that stage in the purchase process, get them to call you over so that you enter the details

18. CyberSafety tips When you are asked to provide your credit or debit card details you should see an ‘unbroken key’ or a ‘locked padlock’ symbol at the bottom of the browser If you do, it means that the website is secure - if you do not, do not buy

19. CyberSafety tips Be wary of buying from companies that do not have a postal address or a telephone contact number on their site Report anything that seems bogus to your Internet Service Provider, the Internet Watch Foundation (www.iwf.org.uk) or your local police

20. CyberSafety tips Tell your children not to download games or software without your permission Don't judge reliability by how professional a website looks - it's relatively easy and costs very little these days to create, register, and promote a website Install the latest version of your web browser - Internet Explorer version 7 and Firefox version 2 onwards both have sophisticated filters that can detect most fake websites

21. CyberSafety tips Set your browser security settings to high so that you are warned if software you download tries to install what are called ActiveX components - these are small computer programs that can run on your computer and can cause problems.