Fighting scams starts in school

Curiosity meets caution

The effects of the immersive lessons were visible. Sixth grader Fang Xi was shaken by the hidden camera demonstration. "I told my parents as soon as I got home. We decided: don't mess with other people's devices and always protect your privacy."

His classmate Liu Muying was impressed by the password-cracking demonstration and immediately tested her own password on a professional website. "It would take hundreds of years to crack," Liu said proudly. "I guess that makes me a little cybersecurity expert."

Even before the event, the students had already begun noticing the darker corners of the online world. Liu's classmate Miao Ruoyi had spotted hostility in comment sections. "Someone posts a fair comment, and then others write really nasty replies, and they might end up arguing," she said.

Liu herself had come across videos insulting women. Thanks to school and parental guidance, she knew how to handle such content: "If I see an inappropriate ad or video, I swipe it away immediately."

Still, their awareness of online safety is only beginning to take shape. When asked about the specific dos and don'ts under the Cybersecurity Law, the students hesitated. They knew about anti-fraud apps but admitted they had never used them.