Hidden Costs: Protecting Kids from Online Financial Exploitation

00:00:11 – Introductions by Executive Director of Children and Screens Kris Perry.

00:01:52 – Moderator Vicki Shotbolt identifies financial exploitation as one of the most pressing harms faced by children and teens.

00:04:01 – Christopher Mufarrige on how the FTC protects kids online.

00:12:16 – Moderator follow-up: How do parents decide which brands to trust? How do they become informed about data practices?

00:14:17 – Moderator follow-up: Are there any state or federal laws that require children and parents to have training?

00:15:39 – Moderator follow-up: What should a parent do if they are worried their child has been a victim of sextortion or exploitation?

00:18:00 – Michelle Nelson on children’s susceptibility to online advertising, including via influencer content.

00:27:26 – Moderator follow-up: What kinds of marketing tactics are kids most susceptible to?

00:29:33 – Moderator follow-up: How is social media marketing unique?

00:32:34 – Elena Petrovskaya on predatory monetisation in video games.

00:42:09 – Moderator follow-up: Should parents be asking where children are getting their money from when they are spending online?

00:43:14 – Moderator follow-up: Are there certain games that are less likely to financially exploit children?

00:46:56 – Paul Raffile on sextortion and teens.

01:02:08 – The panel addresses questions from the audience.

01:02:37 – Q&A: How can we help children recognize when they are being manipulated?

01:06:26 – Q&A: Where is the line between engaging and manipulative app design?

01:08:16 – Q&A: Are there good tools for helping kids be smart consumers online?

01:12:08 – Q&A: How should parents and children report sextortion and financial scams?

01:13:43 – Q&A: What do we know about the developmental age at which kids can manage in-app purchases?

01:18:48 – The panel provides final takeaways for parents and caregivers.

01:23:42 – Wrap-up with Children and Screens’ Executive Director Kris Perry.

[Kris Perry]: Hello, and welcome to Hidden Costs: Protecting Kids from Online Financial Exploitation. Our second #AsktheExperts Webinar of the fall 2025 season. I am Kris Perry, executive director of Children and Screens. Kids are spending, clicking, and being targeted online more than ever. From influencer advertising to manipulative, persuasive design, loot boxes in video games, and even illegal financial extortion, children are navigating a digital minefield designed to capture both their money and their trust. Today, we’ve brought together an outstanding panel of experts and watchdogs to help unpack these issues and share practical steps for protecting children. Whether you’re a parent, caregiver, or educator, our goal is for you to leave today’s session with tools to guide youth through today’s complex digital economy and to help them build resilience against financial exploitation online. Let’s get started. I’d like to introduce you to today’s moderator, Vicki Shotbolt. Vicki is the founder and CEO of Parent Zone, an organization that supports families to navigate technology safely and confidently. She is trustee of the Media and Information Literacy Association and chair of Voicebox, an international youth-led organization working in over 40 countries. Vicki chairs a consortium of organizations researching and responding to child financial harms, and hosts Tech Shock, a podcast for parents, teachers, professionals, and policymakers that looks at the impact of digital technologies on family life. Welcome, Vicki.

[Vicki Shotbolt]: Thank you so much for that lovely introduction and for inviting me to moderate what I think is going to be a really important session. We have some fantastic speakers lined up, as you say, to talk about this topic that I would say is one of the most pressing emerging groups of harms that we’ve seen. It is the most urgent priority for us in the UK looking at how we can start to address child financial harms in all their many forms, because they are growing so fast. As you said, we, I chair a consortium of experts that is looking specifically at some of the topics that we’re going to talk about today, and I’ve been doing that for two years. What we have discovered so far, and I’m really looking forward to some of our speakers talking more about this, is that many of them are both extremely complex but also intersectional, and they’re growing at speed. So this is an incredibly timely webinar, and I am going to take no more time up from our speakers. I’m going to introduce Director Mufarrige, who is the director of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection. He is an experienced consumer protection lawyer who served in the first Trump administration as a senior advisor to the director and deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, advising on enforcement, rulemaking, and supervisory exams relating to the country’s largest banks and non-bank financial institutions. He’s also worked at private law firms and as an in-house lawyer in his free time. And as I’m reading this, I find myself wondering how much free time he has. But in his free time, Chris taught a class  on financial services on consumer protection at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. Chris, I am really looking forward to seeing your presentation as I’m sure everybody watching today is as well. So over to you.

[Christopher Mufarrige]: Thank you, Vicki. Thank you all for having me today. My free time is, actually, it keeps going down. I have three little kids now, and when I first started teaching, I only had one. So this is, as I just said, I have three little kids, and, you know, this issue is, you know, very important to – to not just me, I know all parents, and so I’m very pleased to be here. I’m going to go ahead and share my screen so we can begin. I just did a little housekeeping to get out of the way. The views I expressed today are my own and are not necessarily those of the Commission or any individual commissioner. So just to get started, you know, the FTC is the nation’s consumer protection agency, and it has a dual mission. It has, it protects both competition and consumer protection. On the competition side, we protect the marketplace from anti-competitive practices. And on the consumer protection side, we protect the consumers in the marketplace from unfair and deceptive trade practices. A big part of our agenda at the Trump FTC is protecting kids online. And so, this is why I think, you know, today’s presentation is quite timely. We recently brought three cases that showcase the commission’s focus on protecting kids online and why that – why we’re and how we’re promoting, not just, the protection of kids online, but also ensuring that parents have control over their children’s data when their children are online. I’d like to briefly touch on each of those. About a week ago, the FTC settled with Disney and the crux of that case had to do with what’s known as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. And Congress passed the COPPA, as it’s colloquially called. Congress passed COPPA to ensure that parents, rather than content creators or platforms like Disney, have control over their children’s data. So, you know, taking a step back, for content creators like Disney to upload material to YouTube, what they have to do is designate whether or not the content or video is made for kids or not made for kids. And our investigation uncovered that Disney had several shortcomings when it came to their compliance program around designating content made for kids or not.

Now, this had, in addition to the fact that this, this led to Disney using children’s data for impermissible uses under COPPA, it also led to situations where kids would oftentimes be, be shown a video that was not properly designated as made for kids. And what would happen is anybody that’s ever been on YouTube understands that when a video autoplay, what happens is, you know, next video starts as soon as the first one ends. But if the first video wasn’t designated correctly, oftentimes what would happen is the video – the child will be shown a video next that would be, at times, you know, inappropriate. So what our order does is ensure that parents can have confidence when their kids are on YouTube, that content creators like Disney are actually designating content appropriately, and consistent with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The, the, we settled for a $10 million civil penalty as well. The next settlement that we had about a week ago, as well as a case called Apitor. And in that complaint, we allege that the maker of a robot toy allowed a Chinese third party to collect kids’ – children’s geolocation data. So what would happen is, when a parent would buy this toy for their kids, when – if you’re using an Android phone, you were required to download an app, and you’re also required to share your location data. Now, unbeknownst to the parents, a Chinese third party was actually collecting that data. And specifically the geolocation data. Our FTC – our order imposes a civil penalty on Apitor and requires then moving forward to disclose to parents how they’re using the data and ensure that parents are – provide their consent before the data is used in any way. The last one that we settled, again, it was about a week ago, was a busy week here. It was a complaint that we – that we brought against the creator of Pornhub, a company known as Aylo. And, what we allege there is, is that Pornhub violated section five in numerous ways, including by distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and non-consensual material (NCM), and also misrepresenting efforts to remove it. You know, the pith of the complaint is that Pornhub would often, would routinely, make representations to the public that they were either trying to prevent CSAM or prevent NCM material, or that they had compliance controls in place. And it turns out that that was just not true. So our order requires Pornhub moving forward to verify that people appearing in videos or in content are actually consenting adults, and that they must also implement a program to prevent the distribution of CSAM moving forward. This is, you know, this is a long line of cases that the FTC has brought. You know, recently they, I think it was last year, that we brought a case against Cognosphere, in the Cognosphere matter. Then Commissioner Ferguson, now Chair Ferguson, supported allegations there that the operator of the popular video game violated COPPA by failing to provide notice to parents and obtain their consent before collecting personal information from children. In the Epic Games matter, the commission, which we’re currently distributing about $126 million in refunds to Fortnite players who were charged for unwanted purchases. The Fortnite game maker will ultimately pay more than half $1 billion in penalties and refunds to settle those allegations. And again, the point here is, is that, or at least the broad takeaway here is, is that the commission is actively focused on protecting kids online. And for parents that are looking for guidance or education on how to help protect their kids online, I think it’s important  for parents to go and take a look at what we have on our website. The place to start is ftc.gov/kidsonline. We really think there’s no substitute for the conversations you have with your kids, of course, about both family rules and expectations, but we hope that the materials that we have here can help support those conversations and help inform parents as they’re having those conversations. We also have additional material at ftc.gov/youville where you’ll get a 12 step by step lessons on protecting kids online and activities about privacy and safety online, including spotting and avoiding scams. It’s a great resource for parents. It’s a great resource for homeschooling families, and other educators as well. For example, I’d encourage you to share Youville afterschool church programs and other youth programs that you’re involved in. I think it’s just great material for everybody to be sharing. Protecting kids online takes all of us working together. And here’s how you can help. One of the best ways to keep up to date with online safety issues, like scams affecting kids or/and other related issues is, including privacy issues, is to make sure that kids are signing up or – I’m sorry, parents are signing up for consumer alerts. The link is on the screen below here ftc.gov/ConsumerAlerts. And of course, please make sure to use all the tools we have for parents at ftc.gov/KidsOnline. Please spread the word and share FTC resources to protect not just your family, but also your community. Thank you.

[Vicki Shotbolt]: Thank you for that really thoughtful, provoking presentation. I have a couple of questions for you, as you, as you may expect. And one, I’m going to take moderator’s privilege and ask you one of mine. And then, I’ve got one that’s coming from watchers. One thing that really, really struck me about your – one of the first slides that you put up. I don’t think I have ever seen a slide that has both Disney and Pornhub on it. I think of Disney as one of the most trusted brands for families and parents. It, certainly when my son was little, Disney was a safe brand for him to engage with, with actually pretty limited levels of supervision because it felt so safe. He could go and engage without me being concerned. Pornhub clearly in a very different bucket. To see both of those brands on a single slide, I think is quite alarming. And my question is, do you – how do parents decide which brands to trust? How do they get themselves really informed about the data practices of some of these companies? Because it seems to me that the things that you’ve described could be quite invisible to a parent. 

[Christopher Mufarrige]: Sure, look, it’s, you know, these are difficult conversations. I’m having them with my wife on a nearly routine basis about our three little kids. You know, I don’t necessarily see the commission’s role in terms of trying to prescriptively tell parents, you know, how to go about those conversations. Our role, as most, is to make sure that parents have truthful information and that companies like Disney are following the law. I think those decisions that you just were alluding to, those are best made by parents. The parents need to make those types of decisions. I see our role and my role in particular, enforcing the law, making sure that parents receive truthful information, honest information. And that they’re free to make those decisions that are best for them and their family.

[Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, we talk a lot about parents being able to make informed decisions because they are the people that should be making those decisions. But it’s absolutely critical that they’re well informed and that they have transparent and honest information to base their decisions on. And I think that’s important. Okay, so I have another question for you, which has come in the chat. And the question is, are there any state or federal laws saying that children and parents require training? And if so, could you share how they decide on the learning objectives? 

[Christopher Mufarrige]: Sure. I’m not aware of any law that requires parents to get certain types of training. But I think, you know, as I alluded to in the slides, and we have, we have a big team here that what they focus on is trying to get useful information into the hands of parents and consumers more broadly beyond child related issues. And so, I think it would be very useful for parents and the folks watching this video and your community members to go and visit those, you know, ftc.gov/KidsOnline and the other related sites that were on the slide deck. I think they’ll find very useful information. And then, you know, if parents have other questions or issues, feel free to contact our office. We have a very large group that, you know, actively works with to try to get information out to consumers in that way. 

[Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, it’s a really, it’s an interesting question. We certainly don’t, in the UK, have any laws that say children and parents require training. But I think there are lots of people that would say, actually, it’s kind of important that they do undertake some sort of learning for themselves.

[Christopher Mufarrige]:  Yeah. 

[Vicki Shotbolt]: I have one more, if you have time. What should a parent do if they’re worried that their child has been a victim of, either an online scam or, or even something as extreme as sextortion? What would you say to them to do? 

[Christopher Mufarrige]: So, I think  if you suspect that there’s criminal conduct at play there, I think you have to go to the police, immediately. And that’s what I think that’s the initial step that needs to be taken by parents. You know, separate and apart, or related to that, you know, we want to know about online and, online and related types of conduct or scams and fraud, and other types of unlawful conduct are going on. And so, you know, please report any of those concerns to http://ftc.gov. And, you know, we definitely want to hear from you about that. But, if you think there’s any criminal conduct going on, the first thing to do is report it to the police. 

[Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah. We always say to parents that there are two halves to this. The first is it’s really important that you find out about these things, that your children can disclose to you. And that’s why the conversation has become so important. But it’s also important that the relevant authorities know about it because if we’re not, if they’re – if it’s not reported, if you don’t involve the police, then it can’t be resolved. 

[Christopher Mufarrige]: Sure.

[Vicki Shotbolt]: And so both sides are absolutely critical. Thank you so much. I will be checking out those resources that you’ve shared, even though I’m at the other side of the Atlantic, but I’m sure they’ve got some really interesting learning in that. Are there any final thoughts that you would like to share with people watching the webinar before, before we move on? 

[Christopher Mufarrige]: No, thank you so much for having me. I really, really appreciate it.

[Vicki Shotbolt]:  It’s been an absolute pleasure. Thank you.

[Christopher Mufarrige]: Bye.

[Vicki Shotbolt]: Our next speaker today is Michelle Nelson, PhD. Michelle is a professor in the Charles H. Sandage, Department of Advertising, Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her research on public engagement relates to persuasion and media advertising literacy, where she has developed and taught advertising literacy to children, adolescents, and teachers. Previously, she worked in the game industry, which also shaped research on hidden persuaders, including advertising in games. A completely fascinating area. Michelle, welcome. And, over to you.

[Dr.  Michelle Nelson]: Thank you, Vicki, for that introduction. In addition to being an academic, I’m also a mom. When my son was four years old, he came home from preschool and he said, “Mom, mom, mom, can I please get Sketchers? Tommy says they make you run faster.” Well, you’ve probably heard that before. We call that pester power, where children help influence parents on different purchases. It struck me that age four, he already had brand knowledge. He had persuasive capabilities and the peer influence was quite real. Well, that experience led me to study children. Child susceptibility relates to what children know about advertising, advertising literacy. Can they recognize that it’s an ad? Do they know the tactics, and at what ages? So, think back to Piaget and developmental psychology, and consumer research has shown us that there are different ages and stages that may impact whether children can recognize is this an ad and the sales intent. Our preschoolers may like the ads, even sing the jingles, but they aren’t so critical in the tween analytical age, you probably know this, they start to question everything and may have understanding of bias. And our teens, in that reflective stage, they show skepticism, but may not, in the current media age, be fully protected. It’s harder to recognize these days what is persuasion and what isn’t. And we found in our research that maybe teachers and parents may not be living in the same media worlds, as the children. In fact, the Pew Research Center found that 80% of parents in the US said their children between ages of five and eleven use a tablet, and more than half use a smartphone. Children today are not only passive consumers, but they’re actively discussing, sharing, even creating content as influencers themselves. And now AI is seeping everywhere into our lives, including product searches. Influencers are relatable role models who post content on YouTube or their social media channels about their real lives, including their commercial lives. Through unboxing videos, games and more, viewers, including young children, are exposed to so many products and lots of information. Through social learning theory, our children are learning from these videos. We found that sometimes videos offer important things about brushing your teeth. More often than not, though, they’re learning about toys and all kinds of foods. And you guessed it, most of the foods aren’t the healthiest foods. Children form relationships. We call them parasocial relationships, and consider them to be real friends. They trust them and they listen to their recommendations for purchasing, leading to more purchase power. And if the products can be purchased through the apps, maybe impulse buying. And nowadays, with so-called shoppable ads, the influencer messages can offer shopability, the ability for consumers to purchase the product from right within the app, either through Apple Pay or other financial mechanisms. Now, as we’ve just heard, the FTC does a great job of protecting us. And in fact, in terms of influencers, they’re meant to include a prominent, clear and conspicuous disclosure, which can help caregivers and children recognize that it’s advertising. You’ll see here, includes paid promotion. The FTC also recommends separating advertising from the other content. But in these videos, sometimes the games and advertising are part of the content. So, it’s a really blurry line and it’s really hard to see. In fact, our research from 2020 showed that actually not a lot of these influencers are actively disclosing commercial content. Some of the harm may not be, may be in the advertising itself, but also the kinds of products that are being pitched. You see here on the left, diet products to children, you know, as young as seven years old, or other kinds of playful rewards where you need to make purchases. Certainly, influencers also play a role in gaming. I know we’re going to hear more about that later in this panel, but influencers have their own YouTube channels like Ninja or Twitch, where our children are actively watching them play games, and then, they have a thing where they can do the in-app purchases and they buy the whole shop. It’s kind of like another kind of peer pressure here. There are all kinds of ways that brands are in games. We’ve heard about Fortnite recently. Maybe you know that in-game purchases are a huge market. You can actually buy virtual currency, or V-Bucks, through real dollars here. You know, $100 for V-Bucks in this currency can give you extra gameplay, can give you a fancier outfit, and may even make you a better game player. The harm here is if you’re really playing a game and I was in the game industry, you get into a sense of flow or telepresence where you sort of lose track of all time, you know, and then you want to keep playing. And so, if you can get boosted by just clicking a button and it’s virtual currency, maybe you’re more likely to do that. So, what can parents do? Well, certainly, LOL. You know you’re not the anti-hero here and you’re not alone. Caregivers should not feel guilty about downtime, right? To show Disney or, you know, whatever. We found in our research that caregivers really sometimes need that downtime or use media as a babysitter. You know, that’s certainly okay sometimes, but I would suggest to try to pay attention, know the apps that your children are on, look at their devices, understand the age and some of these content ratings. And especially for this webinar, look, you can see here pretty small, that in-game purchases are in as part of the game. There are different kinds of parent mediation strategies. We say in academia, there’s restrictive, where you don’t allow your children to be on devices. We have found that this isn’t always the best way because it’s hard to keep them away, and then they won’t really learn the media content or the coping strategies. There’s co-viewing, and then there’s active mediation. This is an example that I thought was funny about co-viewing here. It’s a start right. So, our children have their own devices or in their own areas, but I would suggest that you understand what they’re viewing, even if it’s not your cup of tea. How to do active mediation is what research says is boast and is best. This is certainly engaging and being involved when you can with your children. So understand the privacy controls. Every single app has their own family center, including really helpful tips on how to set those privacy controls, how to understand the ratings, and how you, as a parent, can be better informed, as Vicki said. And also teach critical thinking instead of, you know, just once a year, try to be regularly engaged about the content and the influencers. “Why do you like that influencer? How realistic do you think those videos really are?” And talk about some of the tools that, you know, influencers and children have now about AI and editing and so forth. In terms of advertising, same kind of thing. It’s impossible to escape the marketplace or restrict all commercial influencers. So, be proactive. And the more we can sort of build up their advertising literacy, especially even as early as that first stage, you know, preschool onwards, and help them understand bias and selling intent and maybe even talk back or accept the advertising if, you know, if it’s something that they really want. Here are some sources. I know throughout the webinar you’re getting lots of sources. These are sources that I use in my teaching. It’s a moving target, right? Every time we talk about this, there’s something new. There were influencers, now there’s shoppable ads and there’s AI, which will be integrated with more and more advertising. So, our children are using more media. In fact, in some ways they know more than we do. We just need to enter their media worlds and teach them to be critical thinking. Thank you.

[Vicki Shotbolt]: Thank you so much. I was smiling to myself when you were talking about Sketchers, because I had a very similar experience. My son, who’s not – when he was little, was not particularly interested in anything until he suddenly consumed it. He’d seen it in an advert or he’d, you know, been, seen it in a store window. So, I think most parents have had that experience where suddenly they realize that their child has turned into a little consumer, and it happens really, really young. I think it –  what we hear a lot from parents is that we have commercialized pretty much every aspect of childhood, from play to education, and, it’s surround sound,  the marketing that they are exposed to. So I have a question for you, I think is quite a tough one, but I’m really interested to know, to get your take on it. What kinds of marketing tactics are children most susceptible to? What’s working? 

[Dr.  Michelle Nelson]: Well, I would say what’s changed in the marketplace now is a lot of these, you know, I call them hidden persuaders, right? And so, I think children are just enjoying the videos, right? They’re enjoying videos and influencers and they may not recognize the messages as commercial, right? So they may not be counterarguing, skeptical. It’s part of their lives, right? So they don’t necessarily have the cognitive ability to say, “Oh, that’s not a real person. You know, that is my friend and my friend got this for, for, you know, a holiday. And I want that too.” So I think that is one thing, the sort of blurring line between content and advertising. I think a second thing is that personalization, right? So in some forms of media and your YouTube, your algorithm gets to know you and does a really good job of curating your content. So they knew, from my son in the early days of YouTube that he liked fire trucks, right? And so then, certainly, you’re getting all of the fireman Sam, you’re getting all of the content, but then you’re also getting the ads. And so then it’s like, oh, this is for me. And we know that the more targeted and personalized ads, the more persuasive, right? Not only for children, but for us as adults, right? And so I think that the blurring lines and the new forms of media, the data collection, and sometimes that lack of disclosure and understanding, all make children really susceptible to advertising.

[Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, I’m nodding away because actually, I think it makes all of us – I mean, the advertising industry wouldn’t be doing it if it wasn’t super effective, would it? And I think I’ve certainly made paid purchases, because I’ve had a really well targeted ad that’s arrived at just the right moment on something that the algorithm knows that I’m interested in. And, it’s very, very effective. I wonder, could you tell us a little bit more about what’s different about social media marketing from the kind of old-fashioned traditional TV advertising that we grew up with- that I grew up with, anyway.

[Dr.  Michelle Nelson]: Yeah, same, same here. I think sort of related to your first question, it’s like the platforms themselves are different, right? And so you’ll be scrolling through or TikTok, right? Like, it can be totally captivating and you just lose time and you don’t really think, oh, this is advertising, this is your show, right? And so it’s all sort of melding together. And the social aspect is another big part. You’ll see that your friend liked it. You can see that right on Instagram. Or maybe your friend shares it. So there’s a social aspect. There’s the data and the curation, we just talked about. And then this shoppable ad thing, you’ve probably seen them in your own feeds. Not only are they showing you a flashy image like we see on TV, but you can click and within about two seconds you can buy that product. And so we call it the sales funnel or the purchase funnel. So now it’s going from I see the ad, to I buy the ad in about a minute. And so, you know, it can lead to impulse purchases and just a lot, you know, it’s a lot more effective, frankly, for marketers to keep you in the app and make it really easy for you to say yes and buy the product. And so, I think for the platform, for all of those factors, I think social media has just really changed the game. 

[Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, I absolutely, the words that strike ice down my spine is the word frictionless payment because, actually, I think there’s a really good reason to have some friction in the payment process because it gives you a moment to think, do I really need this or not? And you take that away and you have an influencer who a young person really admires and really wants to be like and really wants to emulate and thinks is super duper cool. And I think you’ve got a recipe for some, should we just say impulse buying? Would that be fair? 

[Dr.  Michelle Nelson]: Absolutely. 

[Vicki Shotbolt]:Thank you so much. That has been fascinating. We have time at the end to have more questions, and you can tell,  I could talk to you about advertising and marketing to children for the rest of the session, but we’re not allowed. We’ll have to come back to it in the Q&A. Thank you so much, Michelle. Now let me move on now to our next guest, Elena Petrovskaya, PhD. Elena is a researcher at the intersection of gaming and gambling. Another area that I’m incredibly interested in. Her interests lie in the impact of these technologies on user well-being, the regulation and the internal processes of these industries. She’s currently working at the University of Lincoln on a qualitative project investigating gambling harms, and leads a separate study on the advertising of loot boxes. Elena, welcome. And over to you. 

[Dr.  Elena Petrovskaya]: Thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you to the organizers for having me here. And it’s really, really good to be able to be here and speak about this topic, which is – which I think is very important. And is, of course, very relevant to children and adults alike, actually. So I’m going to talk about so-called predatory monetization in video games, which is part of what might feel to be quite a complex ecosystem. So I’m going to try and break it down and hopefully make it a bit easier to understand. So first of all, what I’m going to use a lot is a term called microtransactions. And when I refer to microtransactions, what I’m talking about is those uncapped, repeated in-game purchases, which Michelle has already mentioned. And these are very, very profitable for the games industry. And the reason they are very profitable is also why they’re very concerning. And that is because the way that microtransactions are implemented in game design is because – is means that there is the priority on player spending and engagement rather than the player experience, because quite often they are found in games which are available for free up-front, which means then that there is kind of that urgency to get the players to spend money, and that starts to seep into the very game design and getting people to spend in ways that they might not otherwise spend. And getting also to spend that time to become invested in those games in one way or another. And for children, this is particularly concerning because firstly, they might just be less able to notice this design or the psychological pressures, which are being implemented in those games, but also they might just be less able to resist it. It is designed in a way which really plays on impulses and things like social pressure, which I’ll go into in a minute. Just going to provide very quickly an overview of the research, which these things – the conclusions that I’m going to be drawing are based on. So it’s a lot of qualitative work. My work has kind of mainly focused on identifying what the examples of predatory monetization are across mobile and desktop games, establishing their prevalence, and then going kind of in depth into understanding what might be the possible harms, why players might engage with those microtransactions? Are they able to identify them? In what context are they harmful? Done through a range of things like, news coverage analysis. We’ve also analyzed advertising, and particularly going through this, I’ve started to focus more on mobile games, as I’ve become kind of more aware that mobile games can be seen as more problematic, and employing this style of monetizing the games. So the main conclusion that I wanted to kind of get across today is that games can and are designed, in some cases, to drive player decision making. And there’s two ways in which this manifests. So the first is, of course, money. So they can be very much designed in a way to get players to spend money to make in-game purchases. This manifests through a variety of levers being expressed. But then also there is that investment of time. So they can also be designed to get players to invest their time in ways that they might not want to. And sometimes it manifests as a trade off. So, this choice can be framed, as do players want to spend their time in a way which isn’t presented as a positive option? Or do they want to spend money which is presented as a positive option? So what this might mean in practice is, do players want to spend a lot of time playing through a level that might not be particularly fun or exciting? Or do they want to just spend a bit of money and skip that level? And this can be something that’s particularly harmful in situations where, it’s kind of come at a moment when someone, for example, a child, is particularly engaged with a storyline in a game or they really want to complete something with their friends and then suddenly bam, they’re hit with this block. And of course, if there’s the option to skip it, any player will be inclined to do it. Something else that these games employ is social pressure. So a lot of them use teams or clans. People work towards tasks together and they really highlight who has contributed. So, in some cases, this can lead to people feeling pressure because they kind of start to feel like they’re not doing enough and they’re being singled out, so they can spend, again, more time or more money. There are also leaderboards which highlight individual achievement competition. And this is something that, you know, social pressure is particularly prominent in the case of people who are children or adolescents, because, you know, it’s important. It’s important in that context and in the gaming context, in particular. There is also artificial pressure, which is created by games. So things like fear of missing out, fake scarcity of resources that can be bought or obtained. And this is very much artificial because the digital resources are not real. So if something is available for a limited amount of time, it’s purely designed to get people to spend money. And then finally, there is misleading information in the way that things are presented, in the way that choices are presented. So there is, for example, in the case of in-game currency, sometimes it’s just not clear how much you’re spending, how much it costs in real money, how that might add up over the course of the game. Okay, in terms of specific examples that might be useful to keep an eye out in games. So first, pay to win. Not necessarily always a bad thing because in some cases it can be fun to spend a bit of money on a weapon that is particularly strong, as some games do this really well in terms of just having narrative advantage from an item. Or just, you know, kind of creating a bit of excitement, tying into specific characters or stories. But if you are paying for an item or power which makes you better at the game or makes the game easier, and there’s no way to play the game, without it, what, for instance, the player could be matched consistently against other people who are stronger, and they kind of start to feel like they have to spend money to just be able to have a chance at competing, then that becomes an issue. Then the so-called pay or grind mechanic, which I mentioned earlier, which is playing for a long or boring amount of time or paying to avoid it, again, that choice between time or money. And that one is a little bit more difficult to identify, but it is possible. Basically anything that gives the chance to spend money and skip play time, that is something to look out for. Then the pay or wait, which is kind of the flip side of that. So, you might be familiar with so-called lives running out. And this is in apps that aren’t just games. So for example, Duolingo, you can wait for them to refresh or you can pay to refill them. And this can be particularly frustrating because it’s quite often implemented in a part of the game where it’s, you know, you want to continue, you’re particularly engaged, you’ve just nearly finished a quest or a task. And that can really cause the impulsivity to tap in. And then finally, in-game currency, which I’ve already mentioned, that has a lot of kind of confusion built into it. So there’s instances of multiple currencies where you can get confused easily between you’re spending your coins on gems and then gems on items, and it’s really unclear how much is being spent. Then, there’s not being able to buy the right amount of currency. Players end up buying more to obtain an in-game item just because of the way it’s bundled or priced. And then of course, just in general, it’s very difficult to start converting in-game currency to real money once you’ve been playing an in-game currency for a while. And it serves to increase spending. Okay, so I understand that sometimes people get a bit alarmed when they see all this. And it can feel like games, all these, like really scary, dangerous environments. But, something that I do want to say at this point is games are not necessarily particularly dangerous in the context of spending. They can be, and as I’ve already said, they are designed to drive spending in some contexts, not in all games. If a game does require payment upfront or is subscription-based or particularly desktop games, I think are, in general, a little bit less problematic in terms of how they drive spending. The games can be really, really fun, productive, engaging. Social things are good for managing emotions. They are good for learning. I think they’re ultimately very, very good things to have and for children to play. I played a lot of games growing up. I really see the value in them. But the most important thing to do as a parent or guardian or an educator is to pay attention to how and also, particularly, why the child is spending money. So this is something Michelle already talked about a bit, but just ask them because, as I’ve mentioned, there is – there are all these artificial pressures, there’s social pressures, things that are natural for a child to want to kind of go along with, but it’s important to figure out why they’re really spending. And is it actually because they want to own an in-game item or are they feeling that pressure? And when having these conversations with children around in-game spending, here are some things to ask them to think about. So are they spending money on something they actually want? Do they really want it or are they succumbing to that pressure? And do they think that they would rather spend it on something else if they only have that money, something outside of the game, a different hobby? Do they actually have the money to spend, or are they trying to, you know, use something that they shouldn’t or can’t? And then, relatedly, are they comfortable telling a parent or guardian or authority figure that they have spent that money in the game on that specific item? Because if they’re not, that’s again kind of a red flag. And then lastly, kind of just more generally for them to evaluate whether the game is good or for you as a parent, guardian, educator, can they keep playing that game without paying? And if the answer is no, then the game is probably not designed in a way which actually supports them as a player. And I think that’s really important, just to kind of start having those conversations to understand whether the game is designed in a way where they’re going to benefit from it, but also taking into account the complexities of why they play games in the first place and why they might want to spend. Thank you very much.

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Thank you so much, Elena. Such, such a fascinating presentation. I think I’d be tempted to add one more question  to your list. I’d love to hear whether or not you would agree with me, but I think it’s also really important that parents know where the money’s coming from. 

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: Yeah.

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: The research that we did in the UK recently showed that young people were spending 50 million pounds a week online, and a lot of that was not coming from their parents, unsurprisingly. So, it is they were trading, there were sometimes gambling, they were sometimes selling that stuff. I think it’s a, a really important, question for that, for parents to be asking. Do you think that’s fair? 

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: Yeah, no, I do, I think that’s totally fair because yeah, as you said, there are all these other ecosystems now that are linked to gaming. You know, things that you can take outside of the game, things that you can trade, things that you can bet, and yeah, you’re very right, cause that can also tie into, you know, other concerns like who are they speaking to, who are they interacting with? Yeah, who are they being influenced by? Absolutely.

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: We, we found that over half of children who play games say that they’re only fun if you’re spending money, which I think is kind of, depressing. And we have a question that was submitted earlier that kind of speaks to this, which is, are there certain games that are less likely to financially exploit children? And, and if there are, how do parents encourage those types of games?

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: So, I’m not going to name any like game titles or anything off the top of my head, but I think, as I mentioned, kind of looking out for payment models. So, for instance, games that are, you know, subscription-based, for instance, where you only get benefits if you pay a fixed amount of money, rather than you can just consistently get benefits by playing. I understand that these are a lot less common now, but they do still exist. Just in general, kind of desktop games, I think, do tend to be that they’re not as designed for that consistent, as you said, frictionless payment. So, they tend to have it in ways which does encourage a little bit more thought. Desktop games, also, I found just to have less kind of microtransaction-based things. A lot of it is for things like skins, so customizable things for characters or downloadable content for which you’re actually getting something of value. And same with console games, especially because with console games you are paying for a lot of the content kind of when you first get it. So, yeah, looking out for those. But, you know, it is hard to encourage children to play those games. I can understand that because it’s a lot based around their social groups. And, you know, what everyone else is playing. But I think it is possible, and I think there is a little bit of excitement that comes, at least for me when I was a bit younger, it was a very different gaming ecosystem then, but it was excitement that would come from like, when you anticipated game being released, for example. And I think you can tap into that excitement as a parent. And those games do tend to be, you know, PlayStation games or desktop games, and you think you can encourage them to kind of lean into that excitement of buying a shiny new game, and actually playing that for a few days or weeks, rather than just having a game on their phone that they sort of dip in and out of.

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, those phone based games are so problematic, aren’t they? Because they’re small, they’re personal. It’s harder to, it’s harder to check what a young person is doing on there. Although, with the desktop games, you do also run into the skin trading and the skin gambling and the PC gaming is also an ecosystem that brings its own challenges, doesn’t it?

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: Yeah, it’s not, it’s not perfect for sure. But maybe, it’s just like, it’s a little bit easier to monitor for that exact reason because you probably, as a parent, not going to be like constantly looking at their phone, but maybe you could sit with them, as a sit down and kind of watch what they’re playing, and you can just, you know, there’s a little bit more awareness there and there’s a bit more physical presence as well. 

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, you can also choose not to link credit card or debit card to a console game, and you can set clear restrictions on how much spending.

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: Yes, that is very true, yeah.

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: We will come back, I have another question for you but, we haven’t got time now, so we’re going to come back to it at the end. But for now, thank you so much for that really thought provoking presentation. Thank you, Elena. And let’s move on, now to our final speaker, Paul Raffile. Paul is an intelligence analyst specializing in global cybercrime and transnational organized crime. He has led digital investigations across government and corporate sectors, with a focus on emerging online threats. His recent research into financial sextortion syndicates, have been featured in major outlets, including NBC News, Bloomberg, BBC, and The New York Times. Paul’s findings have contributed to key safety updates on leading social media platforms, helping to improve online protections for youth worldwide. Paul, welcome and, over to you. 

[Paul Raffile]: Thank you so much, thank you all for being here. Yeah, welcome. My name is Paul Raffile and I am a cybercrime analyst. I started out my career tracking ISIS on social media, and then moved over to the corporate sector, analyzing threats against companies. But now, currently, I’m focused on combating an emerging crime that’s growing at an alarming speed, called financially motivated sextortion. So, I’ll show slides in just a moment. Just, but by way of introduction, organized crime groups are, posing as peers online, tricking teens and young people into sharing a private images, and then blackmailing those victims for money under the threat of exposure. And, this is not a fringe issue. It has become, what the FBI calls the fastest growing crime targeting youth in the US. It’s also scaling just as quickly across other countries as well. But the danger, isn’t just coming from the criminals themselves. The platforms where kids spend their time, social media companies, are playing a key role in this crisis too, and by prioritizing growth and their product over safety, they’ve created environments where exploitation likes this, like, this flourishes. These companies know the risks, and yet time and time again, they’ve either delayed or ignored meaningful protections. So, when we talk about financial sextortion today, I like to look at it as the full picture, not just the organized crime groups pulling the strings, behind the scenes, but also the powerful technology companies whose choices have left young people exposed and vulnerable to this sort of scheme. So, with that introduction out of the way, I’ll go ahead and share my slides about some of the research I’ve been working on. And, and, some case study is here. Okay. So, I’ll start with some stories. This is Jordan DeMay, he was a 17-year-old from Michigan. He received a direct message on Instagram one night from a girl, or someone who he thought was a girl his age, named Danny Roberts. And messages started around 11 p.m. Started out like a normal conversation, I think there were, you know, 20 mutual friends or followers in common. So, Jordan thought this was a girl from the other side of town or, you know, went to the other school that he didn’t really know in person. Now, the conversation very quickly turned flirtatious and ultimately, this girl named Danny, you know, sent Jordan a nude photo, a nude image, and requested that he do the same. And immediately, as soon as he returned a reciprocal photo of himself, that’s when the blackmail began. It turns out, you know, it wasn’t a young girl on the other side of the phone. It was, six men on the other side of the world, who were running a scam. This scam called financial sextortion. They demanded money from Jordan, $3,000, or else they would ruin his life, get him expelled from school, kicked off the sports team. They were making up embarrassing accusations about him, and, like, plastering that on the photos and threatening to spread those photos around. So, really, just the pure, the sheer panic set in at that point. Jordan sent all that he had, which was about $300. But, the criminals kept demanding more and more and more, and their pressure went on, for about six hours, until Jordan had no other, felt that he had no other choice. He was found the next morning, deceased by his father in his room. Phone in one hand, last opened to Instagram, and a handgun in the other hand. This all transpired in the course of six hours. So that’s how quickly these crimes and schemes can happen. This is James Woods, another 17-year-old, this time from Ohio. Same exact scenario happened to him, except it was 200 threatening messages within the span of 19.5 hours. That’s how relentless some of these criminals are. This is Gavin Guffey, 17-year-old again. After Gavin died by suicide because of the scheme, the same criminals started to message Gavin’s family, his cousin, his brother, and his dad trying to extort money from them, but with the threat of releasing Gavin’s photos, compromising photos, unless they continued to pay money. On what would have been Gavin’s 18th birthday, one of the criminals sent a text message to, an Instagram message to Gavin’s father saying, quote, “did I tell you your son begged for his life? Laughing face emoji.” That’s how, careless some of these criminals are for human life. Carson Cleveland was 12-years-old, it happened on Snapchat. As you all know, many of these platforms they say you have to be a certain age, but do they actually check? Do they care? Oftentimes they know when they have an underage user, but really do nothing to actually stop those users from joining platforms even when they’re not safe. Timothy Barnett was forced to pay $35 every single day via CashApp. We’ll go into some of the payment platforms here as well. But, yeah, it went on for a couple of weeks before he ran out of money and options, and he was found the next morning by his, his family members. Brayden Markus, received his first message on Instagram at 11:01 p.m. He died by suicide at 11:28 p.m. as a result of this scheme. That’s how quick, some of these, schemes can really happen. And it’s happening across the world, multiple countries. Here, the common theme is that, you know, none of these kids, you know, had preexisting mental health issues or suicidal ideation. In fact, it was the opposite. They were all living their best lives, and in fact, they were the ones who had the most to lose, it seems. Who, you know, took a very unfortunate, you know, incident and it really pushed them to the edge that, in a single night in most cases. So, I started to look at this crime, you know, I started to realize some patterns that were happening here especially in, support forums and communities where these victims were posting about what was happening to them. I was surprised and shocked by first, the ages of some of these victims. I was also shocked by the similarities, and the scale at which this was occurring. And in fact, it often had the same, you know, scripted messages, different victims, different countries, but yet they were receiving the same threatening messages from some of these criminals. Same thing, word for word, same typos. And there were other patterns that were consistent. So, I started to look at this like organized crime, not like isolated individual cases, as they were, kind of previously being reported as. And so what we did was, I teamed up with a research institute and we published this report called “A Digital Pandemic: Uncovering The Role of ‘Yahoo Boys’ In The Surge of Social Media-Enabled Financial Sextortion Targeting Minors.” What we saw, we looked on Google, on phrases relating to help on being sextorted or, you know, variations of those sorts of terms. And saw multiple spikes happening, beginning at quarter four 2021, and growing exponentially since then. Later on, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released their data of actual, helpline reports that they were getting. And it shows the same spikes happening at the same times, growing exponentially since quarter four 2021. To put some data to this, there were only 139 reported cases of financially-motivated sexual extortion targeting minors in the US in 2021, 139. Fast forward to 2024, and there were 36,000 reported cases. So, our research also wanted to determine, why? What caused that huge spike? What’s going on here? And just, you know, seeing this data, I’m astonished at, you know, how many cases that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children now has to review on, not only a weekly basis, but a daily basis, hundreds of cases coming in, all very similar. Now, of course, that’s just the reported cases. And we know that very few of these victims actually report because this is a crime of embarrassment, a crime of shame. So, we look at, you know, I commend Snapchat for doing the research here saying that 51% of teens have been targeted in sextortion schemes, and 23% have actually been victimized. This is 2024 research. Now, if we look back to any of the nationwide studies before 2021, they all say something like 1%, 2%, 3% of the population has been victims of sexual blackmail and extortion. Now Snapchat, themselves, they’re saying 23%, that’s like a tenfold increase, it’s a quarter of the population. So, that’s just a massive spike in this sort of this method of crime. Unfortunately, it has had some tragic consequences. 52 confirmed teen suicides as a direct result of this crime spree. 37 of those here in the US, making it such that, roughly 1 in 1000 reported cases of this ends in a victim’s death. So, therefore, financial sextortion is the world’s deadliest scam. At the time of our research, only the three men in the middle here, were publicly arrested and indicted in the case of Jordan DeMay. We also found on the left hand side a man from Nigeria arrested for the role of a, the death of a 14-year-old Canadian boy. And on the right hand side, another man was arrested for a $10 million, financial sextortion, very large conspiracy across multiple countries. And at this point, you know, multiple signals were pointing to, some sort of Nigerian organized crime, a syndicate behind this. In addition to these individual cases that we found, it was also consistent with what we were seeing in the victim community is where oftentimes they would say, “Oh, you know, something like an international phone number texted me, starting with country code two, three, four”, again pointing to Nigeria, for example. So, we wanted to look at what was happening here, and we saw on Google search trends in Nigeria the phrase, “how to blackmail someone with pictures” was trending up 850% at the time of our research. Now, knowing what we know kind of about the cybercrime environment in West Africa, a lot of these criminals identify themselves as Yahoo boys. You know, these are the same sorts of criminals that were doing the Nigerian prince email scam 20 years ago, and that’s how they got their name, Yahoo boys from those free yahoo.com email addresses where they would just send out a bunch of scam emails. Now they’ve moved on to Facebook, doing romance scams to X, doing crypto scams, to now TikTok and Instagram doing what they call a “blackmail scam,” what we call financial sextortion. On TikTok, for example, we found the scripts that they were using to, to coerce, to groom, and then to blackmail teens, 75,000 views on, on some of these scripts. The script, down to the same exact typos that blackmailed Jordan Demay, was on YouTube for a year prior to that. And, on Facebook, we see some of these groups, you know, Yahoo blackmailing format groups having over 20,000 members of them. So, I do want to skip ahead quickly, just for the sake of time here. The top three platforms mentioned by minors in victim reports are Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. Here are the safety issues that exist on some of these platforms. On Instagram, there’s actually no way to keep your followers and following lists fully private, and that’s the primary source of leverage that these criminals are using. Once they have that compromising photo, they say, “hey, I’ve screenshotted all of your friends, your followers, your family, so don’t block me or else I’ll leak it to all of them.” There’s no setting, there’s no privacy safeguard on Instagram to make it, to keep those lists fully private. On TikTok, we know the criminals are actually going viral recruiting others on that platform. And, now, as of last week, TikTok is allowing direct messages to include photos, which actually alarmed some members of the company who spoke out about it to the media and cited sextortion threats, risks as a reason why they shouldn’t deploy that feature. Snapchat, of course, is known for disappearing photos. That gives kids a false sense of security that, you know, any content that they share over Snapchat can’t be saved. Unfortunately, that’s not true. And criminals are exploiting that false sense of security to elicit the imagery from them typically on that app. And CashApp is the number one platform where sextortion criminals are extracting the money from these victims. It’s not only CashApp, but it’s also things like gift cards, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, crypto as well. So, have some slides here that show kind of the anatomy and the flow of the scam because it oftentimes happens on multiple different apps, in multiple different stages. So, I have final thoughts on the last few slides here. Before this happens, you know, think about having a conversation, with the youth in your life about this sort of scam. Assume that all youth will be targeted. We’re already seeing about 51%, according to Snapchat, have been targeted. It’s only a matter of time till it’s everybody. And also, I think this needs to be a two part conversation. Parents already have the conversation that’s “never send a nude photo, never take a photo like that.” Here’s some guidance if it does happen to, to anybody and that you know, here’s some guidance, you can, feel free to save and refer back to.

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Thank you so, so, so much, and, apologies for interrupting you there because I think that guidance for parents is absolutely critical. And I’m sure that anybody listening to that will be feeling, I don’t know, horrified, concerned, alarmed by the statistics. I know, everybody that works in the field that we work in, is concerned about the growing prevalence of sextortion, and rightly so. And AI is throwing fuel on an already burning fire. So, I have follow up questions now for everybody. So I wonder if I could invite everybody to come back off, back on camera, actually, not back off camera, back on camera so that we can start to address some of the questions that have been coming in from our viewers. And I think one that actually is pertinent to all of the presentations that we’ve heard this evening. So I’d really love to get your take on it from your different areas of expertise. But it’s this question about, how do you help children to recognize when they’re being manipulated? Some of these techniques, whether they’re, whether it’s advertising, whether it’s dark patent design in gaming, or in the worst possible case, whether it’s somebody who is, extorting you, with sextortion. How can we help our young people recognize that, and respond accordingly? I don’t know who would like to go first, but I think it’s a question that’s pertinent for all of you. Michelle, I don’t, I pick on you. 

[Dr. Michelle Nelson]: Thank you, I mean, I would say, sort of, keep regular conversations and introduce this idea of their Spidey sense. And then as a parent, look for heuristics, I think it’s much easier in my field, right? That, you know, does it say “sponsored post” on it? That’s an ad. Or is it too good to be true, right? And so you can sort of have heuristics, and if you think it’s too good to be true, and then keep the conversations going, right? So, it’s not just a one and done, but you’re sort of asking them about their media lives and maybe show you on – I mean, my kids are older now, but I still follow them on all their social media platforms and so, you know, for a while, it’s sort of just being, especially when they’re younger, like in their lives, I would say. But I’m not sure on the more serious things. 

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: No, although, you know, some of the techniques that are used by marketers are, you know, insidious and kind of cynical and actually teaching your children to have their antennae up for those techniques, builds into some of the more serious, case examples that Paul was talking about. And Paul, I wonder if I can come to you with that same question. How do we help children recognize when they’re being manipulated? But also, I think, it’s interesting to see that teenage boys seem to be more likely to fall victim to sextortion. I wonder if you could, maybe, address that as well.

[Paul Raffile]: Yeah, so with regards to that, I think some of the explanation, the explanation that makes the most sense that I’ve heard is, that, you know, teens and young people, females, you know, have an entirely different online experience than males do typically. And from week one of them being online and on social media, they are inundated with unwanted sexual advances. And what we’re seeing here is that, you know, boys don’t kind of have that resilience. They haven’t realized that they can be targeted in the same way. And just how quickly this scam has emerged that, you know, we haven’t been able to, to put those same defenses up. And I think just in terms of, you know, there is a lot of psychological and manipulation in these scams. For example, the criminals sending a photo first and then, it’s almost like the victim feels, you know, obligated to reciprocate back, it’s like a psychological play. So, you know, I think being able to identify, “Hey, is somebody trying to coerce me? Is somebody acting too friendly? Too nice? Too flirty?” are all red flags.

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah,  it is having that, I hadn’t actually thought of it in that context, but of course, you’re right. I think, the female experience online is that they are much more resilient to and unacceptably familiar with the experience of having sexually explicit images sent to them whereas that’s quite different for boys. And, I think that’s a very interesting thing for the parents to be aware of. Elena, I’m interested in manipulative design, and where it tips over, where it’s, you know, this design is about maintaining engagement, versus this design is actually manipulative.

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: it’s a really tricky question because I think it’s really hard to kind of put your finger on exactly where that tipping point is. But I think as a general rule, is if something doesn’t need to be in the game as part of the gameplay, it’s probably just manipulative. So like, some aspects of engagement might, for instance, want to withhold parts of the plot, or part of the gameplay just because it makes the narrative more exciting, it does make the gameplay more exciting, the player, to kind of work through that information and get to a certain point. But then  if you’re withholding a bit of the game, a bit of the progress, for instance, or just the part of the story, unless you spend money or, you know, buy a loot box, then that doesn’t have to be there, that component of spending money. It’s not something that’s inherently part of the gameplay, same as some of these pay to win mechanics. If you can’t play the game in its kind of full form, without buying something that makes it easier to complete, that’s probably manipulative because it shouldn’t, that, my general kind of rule of thumb for this is that you should be able to play a game freely without spending any money, and that’s kind of anything that’s on top of that is something that, starts to become predatory. 

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, I think that’s, that’s very fair. The, if it’s simply there for the benefit of the game’s developer to make money, then, you know, you have to question whether or not that’s, in making the game more fun or whether actually it’s just manipulating young people to spend more, more money. I guess we have another kind of thread that’s come through in the question, which is, again, relevant to all of your areas of expertise. And it’s a question that we get asked all the time. And it’s the tools question. It’s kind of a two hander, as well. Are there good tools for helping kids be smart online, whether that’s smart consumers or protected in games or protected from, extreme extortion and sextortion that you’ve been talking about, Paul. But then also, how do you stop them getting around those tools? And what happens if your kids are starting to get around those tools? So two hander, I don’t know who wants to pick that one up.

[Dr. Michelle Nelson]: I mean, there are age restrictions, right? I guess we think at age 13, then, you know, you’re, you’re almost an adult, right? And then fair game. But we know that children much younger are getting smartphones. And maybe in the US now they’re starting to restrict them in schools, but certainly they have them all the time. So, there are privacy controls and, and things on the app with the technology. But I think, you know, kids are smart, right? And they’re easy to get around them. And, you know, I don’t, it’s hard to be co-watching and surveilling all the time, right? But I think maybe sort of regular check-ins might be good, you know, just to take a look and, sort of lead with empathy, you know, I understand instead of just trying to be so, like, mom, police about it. But I don’t, I don’t know a perfect tool. I’m sorry. 

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: No, I wish we knew a perfect tool. One of the, one of the things that certainly kids are a little bit older that we find is quite useful, is that some of those user empowerment tools, if young people themselves are choosing to use them like time restrictions, you know, kind of do you think it might help you if you had a time restriction so that Instagram was turned off for a certain amount of the day? If you can get that sort of buy in, it’s better. It’s better than a top down, option. Elena, what about in games? Are there tools that we would be flagging to parents to say, make sure you’ve got these set up?

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: I mean, I guess right, similar to what Michelle said, in theory, there are parental control tools. And, normally these are, I think, more effective kind of platform level, rather than individual apps and games. They’re not always there and they’re not always the easiest to find. But yeah, similarly, they are easy to navigate for kids who are smart, and yeah, basically just echoing the same thing around check-ins and I think understanding is, is just so important here because, I think it can, the, it can be tempting because I think games are especially very complex and they are so different and there’s so many different types, to kind of view them as this like obscure, possibly harmful thing, and kind of try and move children away from playing them as a whole. But I think really understanding, what they’re playing, why they’re playing it, why they’re, why they’re wanting to get around these controls if there is evidence of that. What is it they’re gaining from not having those in place? I think that would you know, I think that, as someone who did play games under 18 and my parents were not super receptive of the gaming I would have really liked it if they had actually sort of sat down with me, been like, “why do you want to play them and why do you want to play for this amount of time, and why this game in particular?”

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, my son was the same and we had endless, I’m going to say, arguments because very often it was arguments about how long they’ve been gaming. And you know, I do the classic mum thing of saying, “are you really going to sit there all day playing that game?” And he’d say, “yes, I am.” So, often for us it was about finding an alternative thing for him to do that was as engaging and that was not always easy. I have a question here for, Paul, which is a really interesting one, in terms of sextortion of financial scams and fraud with a young person, when does it become a duty to report? And I guess who would that duty to report sit with? Is it the platform? Is it the parent? Is it the school? Where does it sit?

[Paul Raffile]: So, the platforms are legally obligated, you know, once they’re made aware of it, they’re legally obligated to report these cases to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Whether or not that happens every instance, I have my doubts. Additionally, you know, things like parents, caregivers, teachers, I think these are all things where there are sometimes signs you can recognize. But far too often these cases are happening just very quickly. Oftentimes over night in some cases. I think the one thing to look out for is, you know, odd financial transactions, and those things, you have a little bit more visibility over. So things like keep monitoring their CashApp, their Venmo, etc., to see any odd behavior there, and ask questions about who they’re transacting with. 

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, I think, you know, understanding, what your child spends money on, where they’re getting money from, what’s out of the ordinary if there’s been a change in behavior, all of those things can be early indicators. Another really interesting question, from the evidence base, I think this is one for you, Michelle, from the evidence base on child development, what do we know about when kids can manage the presence of in-app purchases? Might be for both of you, actually, Elena and Michelle, but Michelle, what the, where are we on the child development from?

[Dr. Michelle Nelson]: Well, certainly not in that first stage. And I would, I would reckon maybe not in the middle stage. I’ll be, I’m curious to hear what Elena says, but like you, you know, money management is interesting and I saw on some of the questions that were posed previously because now so much of it is virtual, right? Like it used to be the day that we’d have cash and it sort of hurt a little bit when we used it, right? And so nowadays with Cash App or V-Bucks, like maybe the even the understanding that this is money, right? And so we did research with preschool children and parents and certainly, you know, the idea of allowance, or a piggy bank just wasn’t in there anymore. And so how do we transition from that sort of olden days into the current stages, right? And so, I think they have to understand the idea of, you know, sort of money first and value of money and then, you know, and then move along. And so they have to be understanding that at least that middle stage, sort of tweens, if not teens. 

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, and actually letting their first educators be digital platforms with in-app purchases, be their financial educator, that’s not a good idea. You want to get that work done before they’re doing the in-app purchases. Yeah. Elena, what about from a gaming perspective? Because what’s interesting about a lot of games, I think, that have these, what we would call predatory financial techniques built into them, is that they’re very often age rated really young. I mean, you can find games that will be age rated three plus and they will have, you know, microtransactions, loot boxes even in them.

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: Yeah, I mean, I think that is just plain wrong. Like, it’s, there’s no way that those children should be being exposed to those mechanisms, regardless of, as Michelle says, how savvy some children are with money these days or, you know, try to be. I think, perhaps the way, and I don’t know if this is intentional with kind of the age rating, and kind of pitching it to those age groups, but that, that is definitely too early at that stage, of the sort of four plus age ratings that you see of being exposed to those because, yeah, it wouldn’t form the, right understanding of money. I think if that is, as you said, what you have to go off at that age. And is it just kind of it shouldn’t be, where the learning comes from. So I think that definitely should be that element of kind of more thoughtful manifestation of age protection, really kind of rethinking how we think about age ratings for games and it’s not just about the content within the spending, is kind of about the player journey through the game and what they’re learning from it. 

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, I think one of the things that we saw in our research was that, there’s been a bit of a category error when it came to young people, which is that we don’t think of them as independent financial agents, but they are making spending and losing a lot of money online, and that’s a huge problem. So, we have to address the financial education side of the equation, and make sure that they are really financially savvy before they start entering these incredibly commercial environments. So here’s another one, are young people with neurodivergent or learning needs more at risk for online financial exploitation? And do any of you have any advice, specific advice, for parents with those children? I think, Elena, I know, it’s a real, it’s an issue in gaming, isn’t it? Certainly the children who are neurodiverse may, may find that actually gaming as a social activity, and as a play activities even more valuable to them, because they may find it harder to be, in other, environments, that might be less accessible to them, but also it can be incredibly overstimulate, an overstimulating environment for a child who is neurodiverse. So I wonder, are there any good online gaming environments that you’d recommend to a parent who has a child that’s neurodivergent? 

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: It’s a good question. I think, it, I guess my, my advice would always be to kind of step back to the games that don’t have, that maybe aren’t free to play, and therefore have less of kind of the misleading information or, you know, the overstimulation of notifications or pop ups, and trying to get you to spend money. But to be honest, I haven’t worked directly with those populations, so I feel like I can’t, you know, give very kind of justified advice there.

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: I am going to, we’re coming to the end of our session somewhat, but I would love – we have another question here for Paul, actually. That, if this is such a common situation going on, sextortion, as I’m sure what the questioner is asking about, is there any way that the situations can be prevented? And I’d love for you to respond to that question, Paul. And then I’m going to come to Michelle and Elena for kind of, what would your final piece of takeaway advice be to a parent who’s been listening today? But, Paul, would you, could you pick that one up for me first?

[Paul Raffile]: Sure, prevention is really tough, because, you know, once it starts, it’s almost impossible to intervene because oftentimes they’re happening on phones, in bedrooms in the middle of the night. So I guess that’s one thing, reconsider phones and bedrooms at night. But I guess preemptively having the conversation, if you know how a scam works, you’re 80% less likely to fall for it. However, these criminals are very convincing. They’re using catfish accounts, authentic, that look like real people. So, you know, I think part of this is also keeping an eye on friends lists, having questions, discussions about “hey, you know, seeing new friends on your list. Are those people, you know? Are they from school? If you don’t know them, why are they accepted to be on your friends list, etc.?”

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, and I think, you know, it’s hard, isn’t it? Because kids have friends online that are a much bigger circle of friends than they might previously have had that were offline friends, but they’re still often real friends to them, and the stranger danger message is no longer as straightforward as it once was but it’s still really, really important that, you know, who is in that list of contacts. I think that’s a fantastic tip. Michelle, what would your, a parent listening today, what would you say if there’s one thing that you remember from everything we’ve been talking about today, here’s the thing for me.

[Dr. Michelle Nelson]: I think sort of enter their media world, right? Try to have a shared media experience. It used to be we’d all sit around the TV maybe on Thursday nights, but try to enter into that world and maybe even have them teach you, right? My, my kids taught me the TikTok, right? And so, you know, just be active and engaged and try to enter into their world and ask questions.

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah, I know that it’s commercial. So prepare them with that financial education. Yeah. And don’t go shopping on Instagram after a glass of wine, that’s just me, I think. Elena, what would your final piece of advice be for parents about gaming? 

[Dr. Elena Petrovskaya]: So I would encourage them to, so, get, encourage the parents to encourage the children to start asking those questions when they are faced with decisions to spend in games. So, you know, what I was saying about, do they, “is it something I really want? Am I able to pay for this? Can I share this with a parent before I buy it?” And obviously it is also, I think that kind of, on parallel with that, is same as Michelle’s advice, start to understand the gaming world as a parent, but then you also want the child to have, to have that in their minds, you want that to be how they approach all this possible spending decisions in the games when they’re faced with them. And that is something that can come from a very early point. So, when they get their first phone, they’re probably going to play games on it at that point already, kind of, maybe just walk through a game and kind of point out various features and say, this is like, “how does this make you feel? What, what is this for?” Just really, really, from a very early stage, make sure that they are thinking those thoughts and then making those decisions consciously. 

[Dr. Vicki Shotbolt]: Yeah. Well, in the end so much comes down to good parent-child communication, doesn’t it? And we, we know from, working with young people that they feel really ashamed and embarrassed if something has gone wrong, particularly if it’s related to money and sex. And so, trying in every way that you possibly can to make it possible for them to come, come to you if they need to is absolutely vital. So, ignoring my behavior of telling my son to stop gaming and trying to be a little bit positive about it is, you know, you need to be, don’t you?  You need to, you need to show that you understand why it matters to them and be part of the digital world. Thank you so much that takes us to the end of today’s webinar. I’ve learned lots, been really thought provoking and interesting. And thanks again to our organizers for inviting us to participate in this. What I do think is a really, really timely and important conversation about financial harms to children. So thank you so much and let me hand back now to Kris.

[Kris Perry]: Thank you, Vicky and the entire panel for sharing their expertise and practical strategies with us today. We’ve covered so much ground, from hidden advertising and manipulative design, to scams, sextortion, and predatory monetization practices in gaming. What we’ve heard today makes one thing clear: children deserve protection in the digital economy, and it’s up to us, parents, educators, policymakers, and technology leaders to work to make that happen. If you found today’s webinar insightful, help us keep the conversation going. Your donation supports future #AsktheExperts webinars. Just scan the QR code on the screen, or visit children screens.org to give. Thank you.