Children with bank cards: WARNING!

[Huggers]

To parents of teens with bankcards: they are being invited to hand over card and pin in a 'risk-free'/'victmless' enterprise where they get card back after a week/report it missing and some extra dosh. The naive are targetted/coerced/persuaded. Please warn them never ever to do this-never to reveal a pin or hand over a card- as it is money-laundering and accounts are hijacked. This is an imprisonable offence of fraud even at grassroots level. Child may not realize this, even though knowing it's a bit dodgy. Luckily ours was flagged up immediately by a suspcious bank manager as cctv picked up my son being accompanied to bank by some 'unlikely' friends. You cannot emphasise this enough to your children, especially if they are extremely naive airheads like ours...

[Skegness]

Been there, done that, got the t shirt and the foolish but chagrined teenager! Agree that it's worth warning them over and over and over again that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

[Huggers]

thanks Skegness, have sent you pm. Teenage years are such an anxiety, I feel every year there is a crisis of ultra stupidity.

[bornagain]

Can you clarify, who is targetting the teens? Are they other teens or adults?

[Huggers]

My experience is the targetting comes from an older child in the school - But I believe it's a pyramid type scam where there is a chain all the way up to the conning theiving adult who has basically scammed everyone. Skegness may be able to explain it more clearly-as we are still working it out!possibly like the Nigerian internet scams.

[FatherJack]

In the mid 90's students/young people were used to deposit cheques into their student/young persons bank account.

Cheques would usually be drawn on a closed account, lost/stolen book.

A couple of days later, as in the day funds would be considered cleared, they would return to cash the vast majority of cheque amount, keeping a tiny proportion for themselves, in other words their cut.

Initially the police were called but after several attempts by different kids, I realised it was more effective to get their parents involved. But they were old enough to get a criminal record which would have affected their credit rating and any future loan/mortgage applications.

Most of these kids had no idea they were committing fraud.

[Huggers]

sounds familiar, FJ, but still no idea how it works! no funds appeared in my sons account and had no idea what to expect, just the promise of untold riches if he lent his card. The boy who recruited him has now been caught, but maybe he was an equal but more proactive idiot.

[upper-norwood]

It happened to my friends son,he was told he would have money in his account in a few days,but took money out!!