Crypto/Bitcoin trading scams with teens?
Is anyone else seeing the Crypto/Bitcoin scams either embedded in video games or separate apps? Apparently it's a thing and my teen has gotten caught up in it--he has used our credit cards and essentially has gambled money away. Scammers are getting more savvy with their techniques and it appears as if they are targeting kids, teens and, I assume, adults as well. There is an urban myth that easy money can be made trading crypto currency and maybe there is some truth to it. However, all I see is hundreds of dollars being thrown away. Yes, we've done what we can in terms of cutting off access to our credit cards, installing "Gamban" and monitoring his phone and computer. We would appreciate any suggestions from BPN.
Mar 10, 2025
Parent Replies
I have a young adult at home who plays way too many online games for way too much time but he doesn't have any money, so he can't buy anything in the games, therefore he's never been scammed. My elderly mother was a target of a number of clever scams, but she also didn't have much money, so she never got scammed either. My conclusion is: scams are out there, they've always been out there, and they always will be. They might be crypto and bitcoin these days instead of paper checks and Western Union, but they are still the same old scams whose purpose is to identify likely victims and trick them out of their money. Just make sure your teen does not have access to money.
Too much screen time is a different problem, and I haven't figured that one out yet. But the scam problem is easy to fix if you control the purse strings.