Teaching students the art of spotting scams

44-page magazine part of wider efforts by educational platform to boost awareness

- Andrew Wong

Local outfit Eyeyah! is using art to educate young people about scams.

The art, animation and design educational platform publishes magazines to educate young people on social issues. In 2024, the company partnered Meta, the Singapore Police Force (SPF), National Crime Prevention Council and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore to come up with a 44-page magazine focused on scams.

Speaking to The Straits Times, the platform's education liaison Isabella Andrews, 28, said the art and animation in the magazine are just an introduction to wider education efforts that include talks and workshops.

The magazine is filled with activities and prompts that urge students to think more deeply about the topic. They include illustrations that require students to spot the irregularities between spoofed and real websites, spotting unusual or glitched pictures that represent deepfake content, and a word puzzle filled with common digital threat terms.

The team also uses different techniques to help students absorb the facts and figures.

Ms Andrews said: "For example, we cut one big image by breaking it down into smaller pieces and ask students to discuss what they see.

"By doing this, they realise that different parts of the same image can have different messages."

The company's senior designer Rebecca Lou, 28, said: "We encourage them to spot key elements in certain scams, such as by asking them to differentiate between a fake text and a real text, or spotting the difference between legitimate and fake websites.

"With the new knowledge, we hope they can take the observational techniques into the real world and apply them to their lives online."