Digital Parenting Tricks: What should you do if your child is asked for personal information, including CC, SSN, user name & passwords?

Ideally, you have already started preparing your kids to deal with such requests beforehand. And the best way to do it is to talk again and again about the consequences of revealing personal information, anything from credit card numbers, social security numbers to username and password combinations.

Offer your children examples of such consequences: identity theft, receiving undue benefits – an identity thief can use a Social Security number to obtain government benefits, open credit card or bank accounts, rent a place to live or apply for a new utility or a loan, etc.

When you see a notification on this matter (in our product), ask your child to stop any e-mail communication, instant messaging conversations or chats with the person who asked them for this personal information. The bottom line rule for your children: whenever they are unsure about the confidentiality or importance of any information, they should ask you (their mom or dad) about it.

We think these tips from our consultant psychologist will help you approach such situations:

Take a few seconds to calm down (your kid is not the enemy here)

Ask your children not to disclose the requested information

Your voice should be calm yet firm in tone

Discuss the consequences at home, or in a familiar environment.

This article is part of the Digital Parenting Tricks series for the Bitdefender Parental Control* feature. Bitdefender worked with a psychologist to create a cheat sheet for parents and offer them some guidance on how to deal with some of the most troublesome digital challenges of our time. Because we want to use technology to find new ways to stand up to this kind of behaviour.