THE REALITY CHECK

You’d never fall for it. Probably.

Three messages below, straight off a real phone. Decide which ones you would have trusted — then see exactly what you missed. Two minutes, nobody sees your score.

3 rounds

No sign-up

Nobody sees your answers

Real, or scam?

Tap your answer on each one. No score, no leaderboard — just the tells you would have had to notice in the two seconds before you clicked.

Instagram ad

@sneakerdrop.brussels

LAST 12 PAIRS 🔥 Nike Dunk Low −70% today only. Stock drops at midnight — link in bio!

Real deal, or scam?

Ticket resale

Lisa V. · Marketplace

2 tickets for Werchter, face value, I can’t go anymore 😭 Send it by bank transfer and I’ll mail you the PDF right after!

Real deal, or scam?

Noor 💛

yooo vote for me in this contest pls, takes 5 sec 🙏 just log in with your account so it counts

Real deal, or scam?

Got one wrong? Almost everyone does the first time — adults included. These messages are written and tested by people who do this full-time. The goal was never to outsmart them. It is to slow down for ten seconds before money leaves your account.

Why they aim at you

Not because you are gullible. Because 12 to 17 year-olds spend more hours online than anyone else, and fraud follows attention. Knowing your way around an app is a real skill — it just is not the same skill as spotting a payment that is about to disappear.

00 %

of 12–17 year-olds have been sent a scam message aimed at them.

00 %

were sure they could spot a fake webshop. Fewer actually could.

00 %

waited more than a day before telling anyone what happened.

00 h

online per day on average — more screen time than any other age group.

You are not a target because you are careless. You are a target because you are where the money moved — game stores, marketplace DMs, ads in a feed.

Figures to be completed from the Bancontact study.

The three that catch people your age

Same three every time. Flip each card to see the fake next to the real thing — the difference is usually one small detail.

In-game currency

FreeVBucks_Generator · DM

bro i got 13.500 V-Bucks free, just log in here with ur account and card to verify ur 13+ 👀

Real currency is only ever sold inside the game. Nobody needs your login to give you something.

Webshops in your feed

sneakerdrop.brussels · sponsored

−70% today, we ship from Antwerp. No company number, no address, and checkout happens on a domain you have never heard of.

Search the shop name plus the word “reviews” before you pay. Twenty seconds, every time.

Links in your DMs

Noor 💛 · account taken over

vote for me here, just log in with your account so it counts 🙏 (and hurry, it closes tonight)

If a “friend” sends you a login page, message them somewhere else first. One minute, no shame in it.

If it already happened

You are not in trouble. Nobody is going to take your phone away. Speed matters far more than blame — this is the order that actually helps.

Block the card. Right now.

Freeze the card in your banking app, or call Card Stop on 078 170 170. It takes under a minute and you can always unblock it afterwards. Do this before anything else.

Card Stop · 078 170 170

Tell an adult you trust.

A parent, an older brother or sister, a teacher. They have almost certainly clicked something dodgy too — most people just never mention it. The sooner someone knows, the more your bank can still do.

Report the message.

Report the account inside the app it came from, and forward suspicious links to Safeonweb at suspect@safeonweb.be. It takes thirty seconds and it stops the next person in the group chat.

One rule that covers most of it: never share your PIN, your codes or your card details. Bancontact and your bank will never ask you for them — not by message, not by phone, not ever.

Showing this to a parent? There is a version written for them.

The parent guide