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Not Monitoring Your Kids Online Costs UK Parents £191 million Per Year!

Do you like the sensationalist headline, I'm doing my best to fit in with the British media?

On a serious note though a report has been released today that reveals the extent of children stealing from their parents to buy goods online. I always had a feeling that there were plenty of kids taking a credit card and using it online (The Simpsons episode where Bart did it over the phone comes to mind) to buy things but when you see the figures involved it's staggering!

The average individual spend is £25, that is your child takes your credit card and then uses it to buy £25 worth of goods online. Over a year in the UK alone the grand total for all this is £191 million pounds! What's even more bazaar is that most parents are happy to let their kids get away with it, once it's gone it's gone attitude. If I caught my daughter doing this she'd be in for some very swift and harsh lessons in life and what stealing means. I may stop short of cutting her hand off ;)

OK, so it's accepted that this happens but besides the theft there is also another concern here. Where your child shops online. As responsible adults we know to only shop online at shops we trust, brands we know, secure SSL based shopping carts, a good track record etc etc are all things we look at as a minimum (or at least we should be). For most children (and teenagers especially) this all means nothing. They see something they want and they are prepared to steal mum and dads credit card to pay for it. I'm sure security is the last thing going through their mind. In doing so they might actually be giving your credit card details to Mr Identity Theft who has setup a temporary store to do just this.

So how can monitoring help with this? In a couple of ways really. First of all you'll probably find that most kids will MSN their friends about what they are going to do, before they do it. If you see them telling their friends they're going to buy XXXX online you can have a word. Secondly you may only see the report after they've spent the money but it should still be within plenty of time to cancel the order (if it's a legitimate shop) or notify you card company (if it looks like a dodgy CC details theft operation).

Kids spending your money online is just another reason to keep an eye on them when they are using the internet.