When is a Good Age for a Kid to Get a Smartphone?

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Do you have kids who have been asking you for a smart phone? You might even know people who have kids your kids’ ages, and they have smart phones. How old is old enough for a smart phone and what age is it a good idea?

kids with smartphoneThis might sound like I’m bragging, but I’m not, people tell me ALL THE TIME “Your kids are amazing!” And then they follow up with, “My brothers kids grunt one-word answers when you ask them a question, they don’t look you in the eye, they don’t “talk” and they are always seemingly preoccupied and want to be somewhere else, whereas your kids are present, socially engaged and they actually look you in the eyes and have full blown conversations!”

My response, NO, my kids are nothing special, they are just normal. That’s how it’s supposed to be. When an entire generation of parents raise their kids on digital devices and video games, you get kids who are disconnected from other humans and grunt.

Beyond “socialization”, there are certainly advantages and disadvantages to giving your kid a smart phone, and we will look into all of this, below:

Advantages of Saying “No” to a Smart Phone

  • Kids are present, socially engaged and they actually look you in the eyes and have full blown conversations.
  • Kids will have to take notes the old-fashioned way with paper and a pencil or a computer, but this enhances learning.
  • Kids will have to communicate in non-anonymous way.
  • Eliminates the chances of being tricked by an online predator.
  • Eliminates cyberbullying and rude behavior that is usually anonymous.
  • Stops you from worrying that your kid will download inappropriate content.
  • Your kid won’t have the chance to video chat with people you don’t know.
  • Forces your kids to interact with people face to face where they can learn how to read body language.
  • You won’t have to worry about electronics stunting your kids’ social development.

Advantages of Saying “Yes” to a Smart Phone

  • Perfect for kids who are shy, socially awkward, or for those who have issues with face-to-face interactions. This however is debatable. I still say NO.
  • Kids who are not assertive in person can be more assertive online without seeming like a bully. It could also help them develop positive assertive skills. This is also debatable.
  • The kid always has a way to get help.
  • You can monitor your child’s whereabouts in real time.
  • You can connect with your child at any time by texting or calling them.
  • Kids can keep up with technology.
  • They can figure out ways to get paid using all the amazing tools the internet has to offer.

Does a Smart Phone Help to Develop Social Skills?

 Parents often wonder if a smart phone can help to develop social skills. This is a common question, and this is what we know. Before smart phones came onto the scene, many kids were having issues with social skills. We also know that many kids who have smart phones also have very good social skills.

It’s important to remember that in-person communication isn’t always the solution. A kid who is socially awkward, for instance, can speak to 1,000 people face to face and still be just as awkward in the 1,000-th conversation as they were in the first. This is also debatable.

It really might just all come down to parenting. A good parent might not have to worry about the mobile devices their kids are using because they have already laid the track for social development. This isn’t debatable. I’ll take credit!

Here are Some Solutions

 Here are some solutions to address when it’s appropriate for a kid to get a smart phone.

  • Consider a compromise. A kid who is 11 might benefit from having a phone just because you can track where they are, or they can get help very quickly if they need it.
  • You have to enforce the rules, too, such as no smart phones when having dinner, and you should be approving any app they want to download.
  • You also should have access to all of your child’s accounts, or they lose their phones.
  • You should also encourage your child to tell you, immediately, if they feel like they are being bullied.
  • There’s a time and a place. A phone isn’t a babysitter or a device to simply keep them occupied. It needs to serve a purpose.

If my older kid is on her phone, she’s being social, as in communicating with someone, because she doesn’t have social media where she’s self-aggrandizing or FOMO’ing. Or she’s using Duolingo, google it, she’s learning Spanish and Italian. Or she’s building out our father daughter project on Insta and YouTube “Minx The Pup” (subscribe) and learning how to use social creatively as a potential business tool while still maintaining a degree of anonymity and still being social.

Written by Robert Siciliano, CEO of Credit Parent, Head of Training & Security Awareness Expert at Protect Now, #1 Best Selling Amazon author, Media Personality & Architect of CSI Protection Certification.

Understanding Familiar Fraud

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Have you heard the saying “familiar fraud?” If not, you should. This is a crime that is as old as they come; essentially, it’s a crime where someone is taken advantage of by someone they know. For instance, a woman named Axton Betz-Hamilton had her entire savings account drained and the person responsible was unknown…that is until Axton’s mother passed away, and it was discovered that it was her, Axton’s own mother, who had drained the account.

credit fraudIt’s believed that familiar fraud is not often reported, likely because victims of these crimes think that police won’t take them seriously, or that it will negatively affect their relationship with their family. There is also the fact that, in many cases, these crimes go undetected because people just can’t believe a member of their family would do something like this.

As you might imagine, the fallout of familiar fraud can run deep. Think, for a minute, how it would feel to find out that your best friend of 30 years has stolen your identity. Something similar happened to a man named Thomas Nitzsche. He hired his cousin to remodel his bathroom, and he gave his cousin his credit card. What did Thomas’ cousin do? He took the card, bought a bunch of merchandise, and then he sold the merch on the streets.

Even when this happens, it’s common for people who learn that they are a victim of familiar fraud to want to naturally protect their loved ones. This might be due to protecting relationships or to avoid backlash from others. There is also the fact that your family might not believe you when you tell them your sister or your father has been stealing from you.

What Should You Do?

 If you think that you are the victim of familiar fraud, you should do the following:

  • Do your best to keep your emotions out of it.
  • Keep an eye on your credit report. You should also place a fraud alert or better, get a credit freeze on your credit file.
  • Think about resolving things without police intervention if it is pretty minor.
  • If not, you might want to contact the cops, but think about the pros and cons of this.
  • If you do report this, expect some turmoil within the family, but also realize that you are protecting your credit.

If you file a police report, you will also be able to get an extended fraud statement, which can last for seven years. This may or may not mean you won’t be responsible for any charges. Lenders sometimes look at familiar fraud as an approved purchase and will not negotiate forgiveness.

Other Safety Measures 

  • Each month review your credit card statements.
  • If you see changes, even small ones, you should report it immediately
  • Don’t give out your debit or credit card to your friends or relatives. If you want to give them money, give them cash.
  • Set up push notifications or push alerts so you are aware of charges in real time.

Written by Robert Siciliano, CEO of Credit Parent, Head of Training & Security Awareness Expert at Protect Now, #1 Best Selling Amazon author, Media Personality & Architect of CSI Protection Certification.

Protecting Yourself from Gift Card Scams

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It doesn’t matter what the occasion is, gift cards are a popular gift. However, if you are giving them, or getting them, you could be part of a scam. There are more gift card scams out there than you might think, and it includes both digital and physical cards.

gift cardIt doesn’t matter where you get the card, here are two ways that scammers use them to make money:

The “Assistant Gift Card Scam”

Small businesses are often the target of the assistant gift card scam. We see this a lot in the financial services industry, or really any other industry where you have a service professional who has assistant that manages administrative tasks.

The scam works like this: the scammer scopes out the service professionals website, he might make a phone call or send an email seeking out a secretary or assistant, and then reaches out to that assistant usually via email or even text, spoofing the communication medium and posing as the service professional.

In that communication, the criminal posing as the service professional requests the administrator go out and buy five gift cards for clients and to send pictures of the gift cards with the activation codes on the back scratched off.

Once the criminal receives the photos with the codes, he immediately cashes them in.

The best way to prevent this, is always by getting on the telephone and calling your boss to make sure that the request for gift cards is a legitimate one.

Using a Gift Card to Transform it to Cash

If you get a $200 gift card to a store, and then it’s stolen, it’s like you have lost money. It’s essentially the same as if someone stole $200 from your pocket. You might be wondering how a scammer can turn a gift card into cash. Here’s how it works:

  • The thief takes a gift card out of your gym locker.
  • Instead of using it it at the store, he puts an ad online offering it at a $50 discount saying he’s in a rough spot and needs cash.
  • Someone takes him up on the offer and sends him $150 via Venmo.
  • The thief then goes and uses the gift card at the store. He takes the item he bought and sells it on eBay….and never ships the card to the person who bought it.
  • So now, he has the $150 plus the cash he got from selling the item he bought.

Infiltrating Gift Card Accounts Online

Another way that a thief can scam people by using gift cards is by taking advantage of software. They use a botnet which is also a robot network of computers design to hack, to gain access to an online gift card account. Here’s how it works:

  • You log into your gift card account.
  • The botnet also tries to log into your account. They randomly keep trying until they guess the password/code.
  • Though it’s not guaranteed, the botnet could guess the password/code for your gift card, and if it does, you can say goodbye to the balance.

Protecting Yourself from Gift Card Scams

  • Don’t believe everything you read online. If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is.
  • Anytime a service professional requests a straighter buy a bunch of gift cards, get on the phone and talk to that person directly to confirm the legitimacy of the request.
  • Buy a gift card straight from the source, not from a random Facebook ad.
  • Don’t buy any gift cards at a high traffic location as it’s easy for scammers to hide their scam.
  • Change the security code of the card if you can.
  • If you have access to an online account, change your password and username.
  • As soon as you suspect something fraudulent is going on, report it.
  • Spend the money on the card as quickly as possible.

Written by Robert Siciliano, CEO of Credit Parent, Head of Training & Security Awareness Expert at Protect Now, #1 Best Selling Amazon author, Media Personality & Architect of CSI Protection Certification.