I’m an online safety expert, here are the things every parent should know before giving their child a phone

It’s a new age conundrum guaranteed to haunt parents: When is the right time to give your child a cell phone?

According to a survey by the online safety organization, about 77 percent of parents are concerned about their children having a phone with Internet access NetSafe.

And there’s good reason for them to worry. FBI figures show that American victims under the age of 20 will have lost $210 million to scammers by 2022.

Sean Lyons, head of online safety at NetSafetold DailyMail.com that the problem is growing so quickly because young people are usually too afraid to speak out if they have been scammed.

‘Young people often do nothing. They are suffering in silence and things are only getting worse,” Lyons said.

Until recently, the vast majority of scam victims were older citizens. However, young people are becoming the fastest growing group to fall victim to fraud.

According to a recent study from Social Catfish, the number of children and teens losing money to scams increased by 2,500 percent between 2017 and 2022. By comparison, the amount lost by seniors has increased by 805 percent.

Lyons — a former high school teacher turned internet safety consultant — said this is partly because scammers are becoming more sophisticated in how they target younger audiences.

He added that teens are getting caught up in cryptocurrency investment scams that promised to make them big money.

Additionally, underage users are likely to be at risk of being catfished, ultimately engaging with a scammer pretending to be someone their own age.

Even more worrying, Lyons warned of an increase in the number of young people becoming ‘money mules’.

A money mule is someone who often unknowingly keeps illegally obtained money in his bank account for a short period of time.

In August, the FBI in Omaha warned that young people were being recruited like mules on social media and online gaming companies.

Perpetrators often pose as IT service or gaming upgrade companies and ask young people to accept payments from the company’s customers via digital payment platforms. In return, they get to keep some of the money.

Lyons said: “Our priority at NetSafe is to make parents as involved as possible in the conversation around their child’s first phone. They need to understand their role in protecting their children.”

NetSafe has now partnered with New Zealand telecoms company 2Degrees to launch its ‘First Phones initiative’, which educates children about scams, catfishing, misinformation and dealing with trolls.

As part of the campaign, British grime artist Scrufizzer Made a Song Called ‘Good Tings’ in which children learn the pros and cons of getting their first phone.