Are your kids exposing themselves to online fraud?
By Amy Brown-Bowers • Bankrate.com

Montreal writer Samer Elatrash finally gave into his friends' requests and joined the online social networking site Facebook last spring. A couple of weeks into the experience, he made a bizarre discovery -- someone was impersonating him online.

An identify thief had gleaned much of Elatrash's personal information and had created an alternate Facebook profile complete with a photo. The fraud artist had also been communicating with Elatrash's friends who were unaware they were networking with an imposter.

Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have added an interesting twist to the issue of identity theft. These popular online social spaces, frequently used as public personal diaries, leave users, especially children and teenagers, vulnerable to fraud and security issues.

With March being fraud prevention month, the Canadian Bankers Association, or CBA, is focusing on preventing students and youth from becoming lucrative targets of professional scammers.

In addition to social networking site safety, there are a number of other topics relating to fraud and security that parents should cover with their kids before handing them their first debit cards.

Debit cards cautions
Melanie Minos, spokesperson for the CBA, suggests parents begin informing their kids about fraud and security issues when they start dealing directly with money, usually as a result of a part-time job. "If they have a debit card, then that's a really good time to start talking about fraud and security because there's a lot that you can do to protect yourself," Minos says.

Canadians used the Interac Direct Payment service a record 3.3 billion times in 2006. Of the 21 million active debit cards in circulation last year, 0.76 percent were affected by fraudulent skimming incidents, Minos says.

Skimming involves the unauthorized copying of electronic data from your debit card's magnetic stripe using hidden equipment, such as pinhole cameras and card-reading devices. The stolen personal data is then used to make counterfeit cards to withdraw money from your account.

Getting a debit card for the first time is an exciting milestone in independence and financial maturity, but kids need to understand the implications and responsibilities that go along it. The CBA stresses debit card safety precautions on its educational site There's Something About Money.

"One of the more important things that we're pointing out is the responsibility that you have for your debit card," Minos says. "That everyone does have a responsibility to keep their PIN a secret and to never loan their card to one of their friends," she adds.

There are good reasons for this that extend beyond the risk of fraud itself. "There are certain practices or behaviours that may (make people unable) to make a claim if the card is lost or stolen and somebody uses it to make an unauthorized or fraudulent transaction," says Michael Olson, communications officer with the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, or FCAC.

"Basically if you do certain things, you won't be protected by the Debit Card Code," he adds.