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.
