Cyber Safety: Everyday Playbook

Points clés

• Any message that demands speed, money or a code gets the same play: stop, end the conversation, and call back on a number you already trust.
• Never install software, share your screen or move money because a caller asks; no genuine bank or technician makes those requests.
• Set up every new app with your child around three questions: who can reach me, what does it take, and what can it cost?
• When a child reports something upsetting, thank them first and act second, because punishment teaches children to hide the next problem.
• Write the family's plays on one page and rehearse them, so the right move happens even when you are not in the room.

À l'intérieur de ce bit

1. The play for a message that demands speed

   Almost every scam aimed at a family runs on the same fuel: urgency. A text says the electricity will be cut at nine tonight.

2. When a child asks for a new app

   A request for a new game or social app is a small negotiation with long consequences. Saying no by reflex often backfires: older children open accounts at a friend's house with a false birth year, and then you have no view at all.

3. When something upsetting reaches a screen

   Sooner or later a child will see something frightening, cruel or inappropriate, or receive a message from someone who should not be contacting them. Your first thirty seconds decide whether they tell you next time.

4. When an account in the house is taken over

   Families share devices, passwords and payment cards, so one compromised account can spread. The takeover play starts with a question: which email controls the stolen account?

5. When money leaves, or nearly leaves

   Payment scams live in the gaps between family members. A new friend in an online game tells your twelve-year-old that a gift is on its way and asks them to read out the code that has just arrived on your phone.

6. Running the playbook when you are not there

   The goal is not a parent who handles every incident; it is a household where everyone knows the first move. Write the plays on one page: speed means stop and call back, callers never get control of a device or money, new apps get set up together, upsetting content gets reported rather than hidden, and one-time codes are never shared.