Glasgow teenager warns against dangers of online scams

A Newton Mearns teenager is warning others about the risk of online scams as research shows a quarter of 13-16 year-olds are likely to be lured in by fraudulent messages.

Nineteen year-old Lucy McDonald lost over £100 after clicking a link offering a 95% discount for a clothing retailer.

She told Clyde 1: "I started to get a dodgy feeling as I was checking out because I think I saw dollar signs when there were pound signs before.

"That didn't seem quite right and there was also a time limit.

"I just wanted the good deal to be true."

Lucy then received a confirmation email showing the name of a different company and typed the name into a search engine.

She added: "It immediately came up showing it was a scam and I contacted my bank and got the money refunded."

A new report shows around 2.2 million teenagers have received a scam message and around 43% say they clicked on a link that downloaded harmful software onto their device.

A further 41% have provided personal details such as their name or address.

Murray Mackenzie, Director of Fraud Prevention at Virgin Media O2, said: “We know how convincing scammers’ messages can be with promises of too good to be true deals, discounts and job offers from well-known brands that tempt young people into clicking on dodgy links or parting with their money for items that never existed."

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