Research from Action Fraud shows that over a thousand children and teenagers in the UK are scammed every month. With young people spending more and more time online, media literacy has never been more important to ensure this time is spent safely. 

To lower the number of young people affected by scams and help create a more robust knowledge of the advertising and media landscape, Media Smart is supporting the UK Government’s National Campaign Against Fraud’s scam advertising awareness campaign. 

Media Smart’s involvement will aim to deepen young people's media literacy with a campaign titled ‘Scam flags add up to a scam’. The campaign will help 13-18-year-olds to identify possible scams and learn how to avoid them.

Media Smart was incorporated into the UK's advertising trade body, the Advertising Association in 2023. In that year alone Media Smart resources reached 845,000 young people and saw 6,000 educational resources downloaded, backed by 36 supporters across 10 industry sectors. 

The ‘Scam flags add up to a scam’ campaign follows research from the AA’s Trust Working Group which showed suspicious advertising was a significant driver of distrust in the industry. With this campaign, the AA works to improve trust, as well as trust amongst young people.

“Scam advertising is an ongoing challenge in our online ecosystem and key priority for the Online Advertising Taskforce to address. Media Smart’s latest campaign is a critical step in equipping young people with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate the online world safely and responsibly, and will complement the industry’s existing efforts to respond to illegal harms.” says Mark Lund, Deputy Chair of the Government’s Online Advertising Taskforce and Chair of the Advertising Standards Board of Finance (a Media Smart supporter).

The campaign has been designed to include scams most relevant to a 13-18-year-old audience, Media Smart worked with youth-focused creative agency, Livity, to cover a range of topics young people are most concerned about such as cryptocurrency, online shopping deals, unauthorised remote access of webcams, scholarships and spoofing. 

The campaign has been co-branded with the new National Campaign Against Fraud – STOP! Think Fraud branding launched by the Home Office in February to provide consistent, clear and trusted advice.  

To support both students and educators, the campaign will be delivered directly to young people in the places they frequent online via engaging animated films. The assets will also be available for teachers and parents to use in the classroom and at home. 

As well as teaching young people how to identify and avoid scams, the campaign also offers resources on how to report scams on social media platforms, Action Fraud and the Advertising Standards Authority, and where those affected can go for support. A dedicated support hub is available on Media Smart’s website with downloadable support guides and access to video content. 

“This is a vitally important initiative, and we are pleased to be supporting the UK Government’s National Campaign Against Fraud to drive awareness of scam ads to keep young people safe and empowered online. There is a shared responsibility for all of us in the media and advertising industry to invest in media literacy, it will reap dividends from an educational perspective as well as building public trust,” added Rachel Barber-Mack, Executive Director, Media Smart.  

Providing young people with the tools and knowledge to protect themselves online, this initiative aims to increase trust in the advertising industry while highlighting the growing importance of media literacy as young people live more of their lives online.