Think Before You Click

I originally planned to have this post answer the weekly prompt and call it a day, however, this week I was a part of an online scam… or what some may call fraud… so I thought I may as well share that LOL. First of all, I would like to say that both cyber safety and digital citizenship were frequently talked about to me at home and at school. My peers and I were constantly told that anything can happen on the internet and that the internet basically contained negative things. There were many posters, videos and films that I can remember being presented to me, which all felt like they traumatized me (many heavy topics). When I look back, it seems a lot of students may have seen similar intimidation techniques. This approach did not help students learn about online safety and digital citizenship in proper ways, because it increased confusion about what may be found online and encouraged interest into “what can I find online if it is so bad?”. I can remember many times that students rebelled against teachers and googled things they should not have, discovered inappropriate or weird things and passed around the laptops with shocked reactions. I believe that the best way to approach digital citizenship and cyber safety is to be open and honest about what the internet is, and the many things it holds. Only bringing up negative aspects of the internet, will not bring a clear and accurate representation of the digital world. Rather than initiating the conversation with fear, I believe it is better to empower children about the internet and teach them how to be good digital citizens and use it correctly. “Safety, Savvy, and Social” would be the approach I would take in my future classroom to teach the nine components of digital citizenship and cyber safety. This idea focuses on protecting, educating, and helping people make decisions that reflect respect for themselves and those around them (9 Elements of Digital Citizenship). In order to guide and teach others, I believe that having a solid education in these areas is crucial for educators. Without the right education, people cannot benefit from the digital world’s advantages or become aware of any cautions.

Now, on to my kind of embarrassing story.

So, I was selling my old prom dress on Facebook Marketplace. While there are many scams on Facebook, the majority are either blatantly false advertisements or involve people being tricked into paying a deposit for an item. In my case, things started slightly differently when someone messaged me their interest in my prom dress and asked if I could send it to Quebec. Since a lot of individuals do this, I assumed that this was normal and that they just liked a dress online which ended up being mine. They told me they wanted to use PayPal during our conversation, which I had never used before, but then was later told by my mom that it was safe. After my PayPal account was created, I immediately started receiving emails with instructions on how to set up my account, which I completed, as well as a notification of the payment from the individual. After this, I started receiving emails with directions on how to “upgrade” my PayPal account, which was the only way to receive my money . You may call me naive, but I was new to PayPal, had no idea what I was doing, so I followed the buyers help, along with the emails I was receiving. I kept getting emails asking me to confirm my account, as well as to add my credit and debit cards to it. Later, I got another email confirming my account and asking me to store $550 to open a “business account” so I could receive larger payments (which was “needed” for my buyer to send me $700 for my dress). This, I did do. Remember, PayPal sent these emails, along with their logo, emails, copyrights, etc. You may be thinking, “Oh Maya, if you need to give any kind of app money, it’s fake,”. Well, yeah, I considered it, but the buyer was convincing and, to be honest, didn’t seem like they were trying to take my money. But in the end, the PayPal emails that appeared to be exactly like PayPal emails, were actually not in fact sent by PayPal, but the buyer. You can also probably guess as to where my $550 that I stored on my “business” account went…. directly to the buyer. Thankfully I discovered a few days later that I was being scammed, when I received a second email stating that I needed to have give another payment as part of a “security procedure”.  At least this time, I was more observant and knew that I was being scammed, even if it was already too late to get my first amount of money back. Luckily, Canada Post prevented my shipment from reaching its intended location or else I would not be getting that back either. If you are wondering, yes, I am now embarrassed, out of pocket $550, and have proven that I am gullible enough to fall for a scam, however, I have learned that scams are not always “obvious” and that this can happen to anyone!

Here is something I wish I would have seen a long time ago! This is on the Regina Police Services Website: How To Recognize A Scam