Money Safety
Spotting when something isn’t what it claims to be, including inside the games you play.
Hatchlings · Ages 5–6
If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
Sometimes people try to trick others into giving them money. They might pretend to be someone kind. They might promise something amazing for free.
One rule catches nearly all of them: nobody gives away something brilliant for nothing. If someone says they will, something is wrong.
You never have to work this out by yourself. If something feels odd, or someone asks you for money or your details, tell a grown-up. Always. You will never be in trouble for asking.
Try this: Practise saying it out loud: “I need to ask a grown-up first.” That one sentence stops almost every trick there is.
Fledglings · Ages 7–8
A scam is a trick designed to get money or information out of you by pretending.
Scams nearly always look like something ordinary: a message from a delivery company, a competition win, a friend asking for help. Pretending is the whole method.
Two things give almost all of them away:
- It sounds too good to be true. Free things that aren't free. Prizes for competitions you never entered.
- They want you to hurry. “Act now.” “Today only.” “Don't tell anyone.” Rushing you is how they stop you thinking.
There's another kind of money worth knowing about, and it lives in games. The coins, gems and points you buy inside a game are real money turned into pretend money. Once it's in the game it stops feeling like money — but somebody paid actual pounds for it.
Loot boxes are worth understanding too. You pay, and you don't know what you'll get. That's deliberate: not knowing is exactly what makes people keep paying.
Try this: Next time a game offers something for “only” a small amount, work out what it costs in real money. Then ask yourself: would I hand over a £5 note for this?
High Flyers · Ages 9–10
Nearly every scam relies on the same two things: an offer that's too good, and pressure to act before you think.
Learn that pair and you'll spot most of them. The details change constantly. The shape doesn't.
Scammers want one of two things: money, or information they can turn into money: passwords, codes, card numbers. That's why “just confirm your details” is such a common line. A real bank, shop or delivery company never needs you to do that in a message.
The most effective defence is thoroughly unglamorous: slow down and check separately. Don't use the link you were sent. Look the company up yourself and contact them your own way. Scams die when someone takes an extra two minutes, which is exactly why they push you not to.
Money inside games deserves its own mention, because it's designed to stop feeling like money. Buying a game's own coins or points turns pounds into something that doesn't feel spendable in the same way. That isn't an accident — it's the purpose of the design.
Loot boxes go further. You pay a known amount for an unknown reward, a structure borrowed directly from gambling. The uncertainty isn't a side effect; it's the engine. Several countries have debated regulating them as gambling. Understanding how the machinery works is the best protection there is.
Try this: Take a game you play and work out its real exchange rate: how many pounds for how many coins? Now convert one in-game item back into pounds. Does it still look like a good deal?
What's next
The last zone in Money World is Big World Money: tax, what banks do with money, and what people mean by “the economy”.