By Sreeja Konakanchi
Abstract
Due to the increasing innovation in technology, teens are a particularly vulnerable group to online scams because of the high digital exposure whilst developing decision-making abilities. This paper explores the research question “What are the cognitive, social and digital factors that influence teenagers’ decision making and susceptibility to online scams?” This paper delves into findings from existing academic research, using a literature-based analytical approach within behavioural economics. From the analysis of present academic research, it is shown that the family’s economic context, impulsivity, reward-seeking behaviour and the duplicitous digital design of the scam method significantly affect teenagers’ decision-making and thinking process while responding to an online scam. These findings urge the requirement for education-based interventions and improved digital literacy to reduce the online scams amongst the teenage age group.
Introduction
The rapid innovation in technology and the digital field has brought a modification in the way individuals communicate, research and engage with online platforms. This innovation has led to numerous benefits, however they have also led to a hefty amount of rise in online scams like phishing emails, fraudulent messages, deceptive social media content and many more. These scams are becoming more deceptive by the second, mimicking real organisations and platforms, making it strenuous to differentiate between them. Among the various age groups of the victims, one of the most vulnerable age groups is teenagers. (Guerra & Taylor, 2021)
Recently, teenagers have been spending a considerable amount of time online on social media and digital communication platforms. Simultaneously, teenage is the stage in life where ongoing cognitive and emotional growth is developed majorly. Research suggests that teenagers are more likely to take mental shortcuts and quick judgements when making crucial decisions, especially since the digital environments are so fast-paced at present. Due to this impulsivity, teens aren’t evaluating the online messages to make sure that they are real, and hence increases the likelihood of falling for deceptive content. Furthermore, reward-seeking behaviour and impulsivity, which are common during teenage years, can make scam offers more appealing, especially those that promise easy and low-effort gains. (Guerra & Taylor, 2021; Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2025)
Other than those decision-making qualities in them, social factors are a crucial part in the influence of teens’ susceptibility to online scam. Family income, financial pressures, parental supervision and restrictions play a role in shaping how teenagers perceive online risks. Teenagers from more economically constrained backgrounds may get more tempted into scam offers, while varying levels of parental involvement and restrictions affect awareness and guidance among these scams. As they grow older, the involvement and restrictions by parents usually decreases, in some cases before their strong independent critical thinking skills are completely developed. (Guerra & Taylor, 2021; Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2025)
As the scams are getting intense, so are their digital designs. Scam messages and offers frequently use professional digital design elements such as official websites, logos, formatting, and language to appear more credible to the victims. Social media platforms are also a way which increases exposure to deceptive content and reduces the time available for careful analysis and evaluating decisions since they encourage rapid interaction and constant engagement. Consequently, scams may allude to teenagers due to poor judgement because of credibility based on surface-level digital cues rather than
thorough ethical evaluation. Hence, digital factors further escalate these vulnerabilities. (Guerra & Taylor, 2021; Chen et al., 2018)
Taking into account the increasing prevalence of online scams and the unique vulnerabilities faced by teens these days, it is vital that the factors influencing teenagers’ decision-making in digital contexts are studied and scrutinized. This paper explores the cognitive, social, and digital factors that affect teenagers’ susceptibility to online scams through a thorough analysis of existing academic literature.
Methodology
This study uses a literature-based analytical approach for research to examine the key factors that influence teenagers’ susceptibility to online scams. Rather than collecting primary data from teenagers, this research draws more on previously existing academic studies to identify recurring findings, and themes related to teen decision-making in digital platforms of this age. I carefully reviewed multiple sources and selected sources for this paper which are peer-reviewed journal articles that have been found through academic databases, Google Scholar and Emerald insight. These sources focus specifically on teenagers’ scam susceptibility, phishing behaviour, decision-making features, and online scam perceptions. The selected studies include both quantitative and qualitative research, broadening the understanding of the issue discussed.
All the sources that were selected were analysed to identify cognitive, social, and digital factors that influence teenagers’ susceptibility to online scams. These findings were then grouped into thematic categories, such as impulsivity, family and social context, and digital design elements of scams. By
comparing these results across multiple studies, I could identify the common trends and gaps in previously existing research. A literature-based approach allows for the synthesis of entrenched research across multiple disciplines, specifically behavioural economics, psychology, and digital
ethics. These findings have been compared across multiple studies to understand common trends and also gaps in existing research. Accordingly, a literature-based approach has been chosen for this research.
Literature Review
Cognitive Factors Influencing Teenagers’ Susceptibility
Existing research consistently underscores cognitive factors as a major benefactor to teenagers’ susceptibility to online scams. Their decision-making abilities are still developing which often leads to quick judgments rather than careful evaluation when engaging with online scam offers. (Guerra & Taylor, 2021)
As per several studies, teenagers frequently use mental shortcuts, or “heuristics”, when trying to differentiate between legitimate messages and scam messages. Teens react more based on surface-level impressions and emotional responses instead of evaluating the legitimacy of the message. This is observed more in reward-based scams that take advantage of the qualities in teens like impulsivity and their desire for quick gains. Due to the ongoing brain development process, teens are more vulnerable to scams that promise easy benefits in view of the fact that reward-seeking behaviour is more noticeable during adolescence, as suggested by research. (Guerra & Taylor, 2021; Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2025)
Furthermore, behavioural economic research stipulates that teens’ decision-making qualities such as risk tolerance, trust, and curiosity influence scam susceptibility by a huge margin. Individuals who are more likely to engage with suspicious content are usually highly impulsive and overly curious which
increases the likelihood of blunders. In contrast, more accurate judgements are made by individuals who demonstrate stronger critical thinking skills and experience. (Chen et al., 2018)
In cognitive vulnerability, age also plays a weighty role where younger teens struggle more in identifying deceptive content whereas older teens demonstrate improved evaluation and more accurate choices. This comes as a result of education and increased exposure/experience. Overall, these findings suggest that adolescent scam susceptibility is strongly influenced by cognitive development, decision-making patterns and emotional behaviour. (Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2025; Guerra & Taylor, 2021)
Social Factors Affecting Scam Vulnerability
Beyond the thinking patterns, social factors make a substantial contribution in shaping teenagers’ vulnerability to online scams. Their decisions aren’t just made in isolation as their family environment, economic background, parental involvement and restrictions influence how they perceive and respond to online scams. (Guerra & Taylor, 2021; Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2025)
Research suggests that an online scam appeals differently to teenagers with different family income and economic context. Online scams that promise quick and effortless rewards tend to appear more appealing to teenagers from financially constrained households. Cautious and evaluative decision-making might be reduced due to economic pressure, which increases susceptibility of teens to deceptive content. Setting aside individual personality, social and financial context can intensify risk-taking behaviour increasing scam vulnerability. (Guerra & Taylor, 2021)
Younger teens tend to heavily depend upon parental supervision during the navigation among digital spaces. Parental guidance is therefore another crucial social factor influencing scam vulnerability. The guidance given by parents can help reduce exposure to scams among young teens a great deal. Typically, the online activity of younger teens are closely monitored and once they grow older, parental control typically decreases by a lot allowing their decision-making ability to be more independent. While increased independence can help refine their thought process and strengthen critical thinking over time, reduced supervision before the right time may also lead to an increased exposure to online scams, especially on social media platforms. Studies indicate that teens who receive guidance and awareness from parents from the start until they completely develop are more likely to recognize scams and respond accordingly. Overall, social factors including family income, parental involvement, and household environment are a significant part in shaping teenagers’ ability to identify and resist online scams. (Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2025)
Digital Factors and Scam Interface Design
Digital factors, such as the design and presentation of scam content, are pivotal in influencing teenagers’ susceptibility to online scams. These days, scams are often designed to closely resemble real emails, websites and social media posts/platforms making it almost impossible for teens to differentiate them from the others. (Guerra & Taylor, 2021; Chen et al., 2018)
Research indicates that teenagers frequently judge online messages based on surface-level digital cues rather than deeper verification. Elements such as professional formatting, official logos, detailed text, and familiar layouts can significantly increase perceived credibility. Teens are more likely to trust scam messages that closely mimic trusted establishments and platforms even if the content is deceptive. (Chen et al., 2018)
Sometimes, the digital environment can also lead the other way when teenagers try to identify scams. In some cases, legitimate emails or messages are wrongly assumed to be scams, while in others, scam messages are trusted and taken seriously. Both situations can be harmful. Falling for a scam can result
in the loss of money or personal information, whereas ignoring genuine messages may cause important opportunities or information to be missed. (Chen et al., 2018)
Teens are being increasingly exposed to digital scams due to social media platforms. Algorithms can unintentionally promote scam content due to the engagement process, especially with reward-based messages designed to attract attention from teens easily. Overall, the sophistication of scam designs and the digital platform in which they take place significantly influence teenagers’ online decision-making and vulnerability to scams. (Vizcaíno-Verdú et al., 2025)
Gaps in Existing Research
Although the current studies have offered important lessons in regards to making teenagers vulnerable to online scams, there are still some gaps that exist between them. Multiple studies concentrate on individual factors, personality traits and the features of digital design, rather than the interaction between all the cognitive, social and digital factors together. This restricts an integrated interpretation of the teen vulnerability in situations of online scams.
Additionally, there is limited research that focuses exclusively on adolescents as a distinct group. Other studies extrapolate results on the adult population to the teens despite differences in brain development, decision-making ability, and digital behaviour. This complicates the development of interventions that are tailor-made to teens.
The lack of emphasis on preventative, education-based solutions is another gap. Although most studies point to the risk factors, fewer examine how practices such as digital literacy education, parental involvement, and school-based programs can minimize the susceptibility of teenagers to scams. Addressing and managing these gaps could lead to more effective strategies in order to protect teens in increasingly complex digital contexts.
Conclusion
This paper explored the cognitive, social and digital factors that influence teenagers’ susceptibility to online scams. After reviewing existing academic research, it has been indicated that teen vulnerability is not just because of a single factor, it is caused from the interaction of multiple factors like decision-making abilities, social context, and exposure to legitimate digital scam designs.
The likelihood of teens engaging with scam content can be increased by cognitive factors such as impulsivity, reward-seeking behaviour, and mental shortcuts in judgement. Teenagers’ perception and response to online scams can be shaped by social context like family income, parental involvement, restrictions, and more. Furthermore, the level of professional appearance of the scams across digital platforms makes it increasingly difficult for them to differentiate between real and scam content.
These findings underscores the requirement for stronger education-based interventions that focus on improving teenagers’ digital literacy and critical thinking skills. In reducing scam vulnerability among teens, schools, parents and online platforms all play a crucial role. By increasing awareness of digital scams, addressing cognitive development and also strengthening social support, we can better protect teenagers in an innovative digital community.
References
1. Guerra, A., & Taylor, K. (2021). Scam susceptibility: Determining the dominant factor for an adolescent’s decision-making. Journal of Student Research, 10(4). Retrieved November 21, 2025, from https://www.jsr.org
2. Chen, Y., YeckehZaare, I., & Zhang, A. F. (2018). Real or bogus: Predicting susceptibility to phishing with economic experiments. PLOS ONE, 13(6), e0198213.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198213
3. Vizcaíno-Verdú, A., Feijoo, B., Sádaba, C., & Zozaya, L. (2025). Facing online scams: The bait of low-ef ort rewards among adolescents and parents. Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 23(4), 449–468.
https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-09-2024-0135
