The Kids Are All Right: Investigating the Susceptibility of Teens and Adults to YouTube Giveaway Scams
Elijah Bouma-Sims
Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium 2025 · Day 1 · Phishing & Fraud 1
This talk, presented by Elijah Bouma-Sims at the NDSS Symposium, delves into the pervasive issue of **YouTube giveaway scams** and critically examines the long-held assumption that minors are inherently more vulnerable to these deceptive tactics. Online fraud is a persistent and growing problem with significant economic and privacy impacts, often employing the lure of free goods or services to ensnare victims. Previous research has speculated that these scams might disproportionately affect minors, given that they often don't demand upfront payments but instead require tasks like providing sensitive information or downloading apps, ultimately delivering nothing while potentially leading to privacy invasion, spam, or malware.
AI review
Competent empirical security research that punctures a common assumption — teens aren't more susceptible to YouTube giveaway scams, just more exposed. The methodology is sound and the findings are honest, but the contribution is narrow and the technical depth is shallow enough that this reads more like a social science conference paper than an NDSS submission.