LODDON secondary school students will be empowered to become young digital citizens when the Inglewood Community Bank rolls out its banking safely online program this year,
Tailored to high school students, the face-to-face sessions cover how to identify and avoid scams, spot financial fraud risks, and adopt secure practises for online banking transactions.
“Secondary school students face a flood of would-be scammers, fraud attempts and other potentially serious challenges online,” said community bank manager Michael Prowse.
“The banking safely online in schools sessions are empowering, interactive and highly relevant for younger people. 
“While highly tech savvy, more than $2 million has been lost to scammers by Australians under 18 since 2020, data from Scamwatch shows, and our younger customers have been asking how we can help.” Mr Prowse said the bank would be contacting schools about the program or teachers could book an early session by calling the bank.
Online shopping and classifieds scams caused the highest financial losses for those aged under 18 last year, with social media, text message and emails the top contact methods used by scammers, Scamwatch found.
“This is an exciting, busy time of year but it’s important to never let the guard down against scammers who will be trying their best to catch out unsuspecting students and their families,” Mr Prowse said.
“Be wary of back to school promotions on social media, especially those that sound too good to be true. Don’t click on links that you aren’t 100 per cent sure about, and beware calls and texts from people you don’t know who are requesting information – it could be a remote access scam.”