Teach Kids How to Sniff Out Card Phishing Scams

Have you coached your kids to be on the lookout for sketchy calls, text messages, emails, and sites?

Unfortunately, advanced AI technologies are escalating the frequency and sophistication of phishing attacks. Your kid’s cards are in the crosshairs.

This classic example of a phishing text landed on my phone just the other day:

4 Ways To Deliver A Spot Bonus

Have you ever received a spot bonus at work?

Boy, does that feel awesome to get some bottom line recognition for a job well done!

No doubt, your kid would love that feeling too.

In fact, I see spot bonus transactions all the time on FamZoo cards.

Check out this sampling of spot bonus reasons pulled from anonymous transaction data:

How And Why To Keep A Close Eye On What Kids Buy

FamZoo comes with several builtin tools to help parents pay close attention to card activity within the family.

1. Transaction History — when signed into FamZoo, family members can browse the full history of all transactions on a card. Just click or tap on the balance of the desired card to see its history.

   The scope of visibility depends upon the family member’s role. Kids just see the transactions on their own cards, while parents can see all transactions on all cards in the family.

   The entries are sorted from newest to oldest. The history includes completed transactions, pending transactions, and even declined transactions. Having visibility on all declined transactions is unique to FamZoo and very powerful. Why? Because we believe every failed transaction is a potential learning opportunity. Select the red DECLINED lozenge next to an unsuccessful transaction, and you’ll see why it failed (insufficient funds, incorrect PIN, invalid security code, blocked merchant, etc.). Beneath the reason, you’ll find a suggestion on how to remedy the situation.

2. Weekly Activity Reports — each week, family members receive an email from FamZoo that summarizes transaction activity for the previous 7 days. Kids just see their own activity, while parents see activity for the whole family. The reports are a handy way to quickly detect interesting patterns or unexpected transactions that bear further discussion — like too many trips to Starbucks or 20 declined iTunes transactions in a row! 🤔
3. Activity Alerts — FamZoo can send real-time activity alerts to family members via text or email for all transaction attempts on a card — including failed ones. The alert includes the amount, the last 4 of the card, the merchant description, and the remaining balance. When a transaction is declined, the alert includes a brief description of the reason. Alerts can be directed to the parents, the child, or both (recommended).

   👉 If there is one monitoring tool to use to maximize awareness, this is the one!