Beat the boredom online: money safety tips for kids (and parents) these school holidays

With the school holidays now underway, South African parents are preparing for a familiar challenge – how to keep their kids safely entertained during long days at home. Today, however, this challenge extends beyond physical safety to online safety as well.

UNICEF research suggests that over 95% of South African children have regular access to the internet, yet only 41% have received any information on online safety. And alarmingly, more than half (52%) of children say they have added people they’ve never met in real life to their online networks – a behaviour that can open the door to dangerous scams and exploitation.

School holidays often mean more screen time, less routine, and a greater likelihood of children engaging in online activities independently. While that’s not inherently risky, it does create more opportunities for mistakes or manipulation, particularly when money is involved.

South Africa’s broader fraud landscape reinforces this concern. Digital banking fraud has surged in recent years, with incidents rising sharply and losses reaching billions of rand annually. Much of this is driven not by technical breaches, but by social engineering – scams designed to trick people into sharing information, approving transactions or clicking on malicious links.

Young people are especially vulnerable because they are confident online, having grown up with the internet, but may not always pause to question what they’re seeing. That’s why financial education and digital awareness need to go hand in hand.

Building safer money habits online

To help reduce risk during the holidays, I recommend a few simple guidelines for families:

• Encourage children to pause before clicking on links, especially those offering prizes, discounts or urgent action.
• Use only trusted platforms for purchases or downloads.
• Verify websites. Check for the padlock icon and https:// in the URL and watch for small spelling errors.
• Avoid sharing personal or financial information online unless absolutely necessary and verified.
• Use secure payment methods for online shopping: Pay with your RCS Store Card or a virtual credit card rather than EFTs, and avoid wire transfers, cryptocurrency or gift cards.
• Protect your details: Never share your PIN, CVV or OTP with anyone. Legitimate institutions will never ask for them.
• Set up transaction alerts or spending notifications where possible. RCS customers automatically receive instant transaction notifications, check these regularly to confirm activity.
• Keep conversations open, so children feel comfortable reporting anything unusual, and ensure these conversations are age appropriate:

o   For younger children (aged 6-10), the focus should be on basic principles. At this age, it’s about teaching children that money – even when it’s digital – is real, and that not everything online is trustworthy.

o   Tweens (aged 11-13) are often more independent online, using apps, games and early social media platforms. Here, parents can introduce concepts like protecting personal information and recognising scams.

o   Teenagers (aged 14-18) : Older teens approaching adulthood will soon begin engaging with credit products of their own, particularly digital payments, online marketplaces, and entry-level credit. This is an important stage to explain how credit works, what terms and conditions mean, and why agreements should never be entered into lightly.

Lead by example

While education is critical, Roberts notes that children learn as much from observation as they do from conversation. Parents play a powerful role in modelling financial behaviour. When children see adults budgeting, paying on time, and making considered spending decisions, they are learning habits that will shape their own approach to money.

Demonstrating safe online shopping, such as verifying websites, avoiding suspicious links, and using secure payment methods, also reinforces practical lessons that children can apply themselves over time.

And last but definitely not least, it’s crucial that parents – and their children – know what to do if something goes wrong.

Suspected fraud or scams can be reported to your bank immediately, or to organisations such as the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service. Acting quickly can help limit financial loss and prevent further misuse of personal information.

RCS continuously invests in advanced fraud-detection systems, employee training, and customer education to combat online scams. Its fraud team monitors suspicious activity 24/7 and works closely with retail and banking partners to safeguard customer data.

If you suspect that you might be the victim of a scam involving your RCS account, please email [email protected] or call 021 597 4970.

The reality is that children are growing up in a digital-first financial world,” says Roberts. “The goal these school holidays is therefore not to remove digital access, but to equip the young people in our homes to navigate it safely.

* Roberts is the customer operations executive at RCS.

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