When it comes to online safety many of us overlook some of the key problem areas that face internet users that we really should equip our children to deal with. One of the most important of these areas is teaching your children internet safety rules such as how to spot and avoid scams in all there multifarious forms. Scams have become commonplace online and aren't simply limited to financial scams. Teaching your children how to spot a scam is therefore essential to their internet safety as they grow. It will protect them from fraud and exposure to identity theft so is essential to a child's online education.

To start then we shall look at the most common scams and how you can teach your children to spot them. Scams can be broken down into two main categories – those that aim at taking your financial details and those that aim at taking your personal details. Your financial details are of course the most widely known and it is very easy to be duped even if you are an adult. Of course when your child is young they should not be making any purchases without supervision but the time will come when they will so it is better for them to be prepared adequately.

Financial scams are the most common and often involve fraudulently encouraging you to input your financial details. Either of these can be sites selling goods and fraudulent items or they can simply be scams that claim not to charge you but require "credit card verification." They may take the form of hijackings of your computer that require you credit card details in order for you to solve the problem. Alternatively they may be small charges that you authorise followed by continued re-billing after the initial payment has been made.

Personal detail scams usually involve attempts to get our private information – either as a membership requirement or in order to give you access to some online content. These scams can also be joined with the above and usually involve an attempt to steal your details so that they can then use them in procuring credit cards/passports and other devices used in crime and fraud. With both of these kinds of scams be assured that they come in huge varieties and are ever adapting and progressing so teaching caution to your children in all internet use is essential.

So with this in mind we turn to how to spot a scam when browsing. You need to discourage your children from using unsecure payment methods and teach them how to spot the tell-tale signs of a scam. Initially this should be teaching your children what information should and should not be shared online. Once this has been done you need to get your children to understand how these scams operate and how to spot them. Whilst it is not always obvious that a site is a scam there are some tell-tale signs that a site is a scam. Genuine sites will typically offer a clear privacy policy and terms and conditions. You should also encourage your children to look for discrepancies on the site and in the address bar such as spelling errors and picture/trademark discrepancies. Finally make sure you instil a sense of caution in your children so that they are always cautious when using the internet; teach them how to deal with problems should any arise.