Scam Awareness

Time: Two 45-minute class periods

Essential Question: Why is it important to save your money and think before using money?

Overview: Students play Don’t Get Duped, a choice-based adventure game.

Introduction: In Don’t Get Duped, students start as a child and have an ultimate goal: buy their dream house near their friends! Throughout their childhood and adolescence, students will be able to earn money and then make careful decisions on how to spend their money. Students will save their money for this large goal while also saving for smaller goals like buying their favorite action figure or going on a trip with their friends. With each new situation, students will have to think about each decision carefully before acting, as making a decision without thinking of the consequences could cause them to lose some money!

The key learning outcome is learning how to save money and protect it from bad actors.

Objectives: The student will...

• Learn the importance of saving money for their desired goal(s).
• Think before spending
• Identify scamming techniques & how to avoid said scams

Standards: Jump$tart Coalition National Standards for Personal Financial Education (2021)

Spending:

• 4-1: People differ in their preferences, priorities, and resources available for consuming goods and services
• 4-2: Money can be spent to increase one’s own or another individual’s personal satisfaction or to share the cost of goods and services.
• 4-3: When people make a decision to use money for a particular purpose, they incur an opportunity cost in that they cannot use the money for another purpose.
• 4-5: Price, spending choices of others, peer pressure, and advertising about a product or service can influence purchase decisions.

Saving:

• 4-1: When people save money, they are choosing not to spend money today to be able to buy something in the future.
• 4-2: A savings plan is a plan for setting aside money to pay for a future need, goal, or emergency.
• 8-1: People save money for many different purposes, including large purchases such as cars and homes, education costs, retirement, and emergencies.
• 8-2: Savings decisions depend on individual preferences and circumstances, and can impact personal satisfaction and financial well-being.
• 8-4: Interest earned on savings is the interest rate multiplied by the balance in the account, which includes the original amount saved (principal) and previously earned interest.

Managing risk:

• 4-2: People who are exposed to risks often try to reduce or avoid the negative consequences of those risks.
• 12-11: Online transactions and failure to safeguard personal documents can make consumers vulnerable to privacy infringement, identity theft, and fraud.

Suggested Pacing:

Day 1: Students play through the Childhood section of Don’t Get Duped - end the game when they get their cell phone. Ask students to share what they spent money on and what tips they earned through each situation. After the students finish that section, have them come up with 2 items/situations they would want to save their money for and what 2 things they cannot spend money on to get what they are saving for.

Day 2: Students play through the Adolescence section of Don’t Get Duped. As they are playing through the game, ask them to identify ways to earn money as a teenager. Once they have finished playing the game, open a discussion about how they did as a teenager - did any lose money from a scam? If so, what will they do in reality to ensure that they do not lose money to online scams?