Overview

Stay a step ahead of scammers — Students will be able to identify, react to and report suspicious online communications, as well as emails, texts and phone calls to avoid becoming a victim of a scam. For grades 6- 12 (45 mins).

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Identify and react to suspicious online communications, as well as emails, texts, and phone calls
• Report online scams to the appropriate authorities.

Downloadable lesson documents

• Student Handout
• Teacher Tips
• Transcript

Before you watch

Describe any suspicious communications, including emails or text messages, you have received that may have been scams. What about them made you suspicious?

While you watch

Preview the following questions. Then answer them while they watch the How2Internet video. According to the video… (word bank)

1. GenZ Americans are _______________ times more likely to get caught in an online scam than older adults.
2. Online scammers try to make you feel _______________ or special so you don’t think logically.
3. _______________is when a scammer reaches out to you through email, text, even a phone call, to try to steal your passwords, account numbers or your social security number.
4. To get your personal information, scammers send fake emails or texts that
   • claim they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or _______________ attempts
   • claim there’s a problem with your account or your _______________ information
   • claim you need to confirm some personal or financial information
   • include an _______________ you don’t recognize
   • want you to click on a link to make a _______________ — but the link has malware
   • say you’re eligible to register for a government _______________
   • offer a _______________ for free stuff
5. You should _______________share personal information or photos with someone online that you do not know.
6. Some questions you can ask about suspicious messages are
   • Is this person really who they say they are?
   • Is their number from an area you’re familiar with?How long ago was their _______________ made?
   • Are there weird letters or _______________ in their messages?
   • Do they have a strange sign-off or call you an odd ______________ ?
7. If they share a picture of themselves, do a _______________ image search.
8. A clear sign of a scam is if the person acts weird, makes excuses, and won’t hop on a video call.
9. There are a few more things to make sure you don’t fall victim to a scam:
   • Use security software, and set automatic updates for it, including automatic security updates on your phone.
   • Use multi-factor _______________ on your accounts, like a pin, text or thumbprint.
   • Make sure you create a pin, password or security question that only you know.
   • Back up your _______________ onto a hard drive, so you don’t lose info in case something happens.
10. Report phishing emails to reportphishing@apwg.org, forward phishing text messages to _______________, and report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

After you watch

1. What is something from the video that surprised you the most about online scams? Why?
2. Why is it helpful to not respond to texts from phone numbers or people you do not know?
3. How do scammers try to make potential victims feel emotional or special? Why is that effective?

Extension activity

Test-drive your new skills on a social media simulator co-developed by the Cornell Social Media Lab and Common Sense Education. Check out the TestDrive teacher guide.Exit Ticket

List three topics you would be interested in looking for a claim to fact-check.

Standards

ISTE 1.2.d DIGITAL PRIVACY Students manage their personal data to maintain digital privacy and security, and are aware of data-collection technology used to track their navigation online.

ISTE 1.3.b EVALUATE INFORMATION Students evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility and relevance of information, media, data or other resources.

CC.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6 Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).

CC.ELA-LITERACY.RL.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Chris Schwalm is a youth producer at PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs (SRL). Before coming to SRL, Chris taught high school journalism for 20 years in Lancaster, Penn. For 12 of those years, Chris reported on nights and weekends for the Lancaster News. In addition to the How2Internet series, Chris wrote SRL and MediaWise’s Teen Fact Checking Network lesson series on media literacy. You can reach him on Twitter/X @cschwalm.

These lessons were developed by PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs in partnership with MediaWise and the Teen Fact-Checking Network, which are part of the Poynter Institute. This partnership has been made possible with support from Google.

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