- Define and explain Spotting Online Tricks in your own words
- Use key terms such as digital footprint accurately
- Apply what you have learned to new examples and questions
- Avoid the common mistakes learners make with this topic
This lesson focuses on Spotting Online Tricks: recognise suspicious messages, pop-ups and requests from strangers.
Recognise suspicious messages, pop-ups and requests from strangers.
Key ideas
Stop, block and tell
If a message upsets you, a stranger asks for personal details, or something feels wrong, stop replying, block the person and tell a trusted adult straight away. You will never be in trouble for reporting something that worries you — telling is always the brave choice.
Think before you share
Ask yourself: would I be happy if this photo or message was shown to my whole school? Personal information — your address, school name or location — should never be posted publicly, because you cannot control who sees it or saves it.
Key term — digital footprint: The trail of posts, photos and messages you leave behind online. Once something is posted, it can be very hard to remove.
Why should you log out of accounts on a shared school computer?
Anyone using the computer next could read your messages or pretend to be you, so always log out.
Answer: Anyone using the computer next could read your messages or pretend to be you, so always log out.
- Clicking a pop-up that says you have won a prize Correction: prizes that appear from nowhere are tricks — close the pop-up and tell an adult instead of clicking.
- Sharing a password with a friend Correction: keep every password secret, even from friends — friendships change, but a shared password stays shared.
Practice
Do not click — it is almost certainly a trick to steal details or install something nasty. Delete it and tell an adult.
'cloud-drum-apple' — it is long, random and gives no clues about its owner.
Do not answer — your school is personal information. Stop chatting and tell a trusted adult.
Ask permission before posting photos of other people, and remove a photo straight away if the person in it asks you to.
Quick check
Which of these best defines "digital footprint"?
True or false: deleting a photo from your phone removes it from the internet.
- Spotting Online Tricks: recognise suspicious messages, pop-ups and requests from strangers.
- Stop, block and tell: If a message upsets you, a stranger asks for personal details, or something feels wrong, stop replying, block the person and tell a trusted adult straight away.
- stranger: Online, a stranger is anyone you have not met in real life — even if they seem friendly in a game or chat.
- Watch out for: clicking a pop-up that says you have won a prize