CyberShield Kids • Module 3

Scam Spotting

This module teaches elementary students how to notice scam warning signs in safe, fake examples. Students will learn to pause before clicking, avoid sharing private information, and ask trusted adults when something online feels strange.

Module Lessons

What students will complete

Module 3 helps students practice scam awareness using safe, fake, age-appropriate examples. The goal is not to scare students. The goal is to help them slow down and ask for help.

Lesson 3.1Live

What Is a Scam?

Learn that scams are tricks that try to get people to click, share, believe, or do something unsafe.

Open Lesson
What a scam means
Why scams can look exciting or urgent
Why students should pause and ask for help
Lesson 3.2Live

Too-Good-to-Be-True Offers

Learn why free prizes, free game coins, surprise rewards, and impossible offers can be warning signs.

Open Lesson
What too-good-to-be-true means
Why prize messages can be unsafe
How to ask a trusted adult before clicking
Lesson 3.3Live

Strange Messages

Learn how to notice messages that ask for secrets, passwords, private information, money, or fast action.

Open Lesson
Common strange message warning signs
Why secrets and pressure are unsafe
What to do before replying
Lesson 3.4Live

Pause Before You Click

Learn a simple pause-check-ask habit before clicking buttons, links, popups, downloads, or messages.

Open Lesson
How to pause before clicking
What to check for
When to ask a trusted adult
Lesson 3.5Live

Module Review

Review scam warning signs, fake prize messages, strange requests, and safe next steps.

Open Lesson
How to spot scam warning signs
How to choose safe next steps
How to explain the pause-check-ask habit

Big Ideas

What students should remember

Scams try to trick people

A scam may try to make something look exciting, scary, urgent, secret, or too good to be true.

Pause before reacting

Students should slow down before clicking, replying, downloading, or sharing information.

Never share private information

Students should not share passwords, addresses, phone numbers, school names, or family details because of a message or popup.

Ask a trusted adult

If something feels strange, students should ask a parent, teacher, guardian, counselor, or school technology staff member.

Safety Reminder

Do not click real suspicious links.

CyberShield Kids should not include real scam links, real phishing links, real suspicious downloads, or real private student information. All scam examples should be fake, safe, and classroom appropriate.

Trusted adult rule

If a message, popup, prize, link, or online person feels strange, urgent, secret, or unsafe, students should pause and ask a parent, teacher, guardian, counselor, or school technology staff member for help.

Warning Signs

Scam signs students should notice

These warning signs are simple examples. Students should not try to test suspicious messages by clicking them. They should ask a trusted adult.

A message says you won a prize you did not enter.
A popup tells you to click quickly.
A game offer asks for your password.
Someone asks you to keep a secret from your family or teacher.
A message asks for private information.
A link, button, or download feels strange or unexpected.

Practice Preview

Safer and unsafe scam choices

These examples help students practice scam spotting without using real suspicious links, real passwords, or real private information.

Safer choice

A student sees a fake prize popup and asks a trusted adult before clicking anything.

Unsafe choice

A student types a password into a game message that promises free coins.

Safer choice

A student does not reply when a stranger asks for private information.

Scam Spotting Rules

Rules for this module

Do not click strange links, buttons, popups, or downloads.
Do not type real passwords into messages, games, popups, or practice activities.
Do not share private information because of a prize, reward, warning, or urgent message.
Do not keep secrets from trusted adults when something online feels strange.
Ask a trusted adult before replying to suspicious messages.
Use fake examples only when learning about scams.

Next Build Step

Next, build Lesson 3.1.

After this module page works, the next route should be /kids/scam-spotting/what-is-a-scam. That page will become the first individual lesson in Kids Module 3.

Continue Learning

Ready for Module 4?

After finishing Scam Spotting, students can continue to Kind and Safe Technology Use to learn how to use kind words online, make safe choices in games and group chats, and ask for help when someone is being mean.