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The free tool below runs entirely in this browser — no account, nothing stored or transmitted. Redact anything you would not want kept before you type it.
Open the companion tool →Why the plan beats the warning
Teens are not fooled because they are naive. They are fooled at the point where the conversation has become important to them — a relationship, a friendship, a sense of being needed. A warning delivered before that moment rarely survives it.
A script gives the teen a way out that does not cost them face: an agreed sentence, sent in the chat, ends the request. A parent who asks 'how did the script go' is a different kind of ally than one who asks to read the messages.
The protocol
- Agree on a signal word or phrase the teen can say to you that means 'this is happening now' without explaining in front of anyone.
- Write one sentence they can send to the other person: no money moves without a verified call or meeting, and no pressure is answered.
- Walk through the two checks that matter: has there been a live call or meeting, and is the story the same as it was last month?
- Agree that no codes, gift cards, cards, or transfers happen under any story — including a story about a family member in trouble.
- Set the numbers for the two calls to make if money has already moved: the payment provider and, if it escalates, the bank.
- Revisit the card together in six months, and after any new app the teen starts using.
What the tool does
Build a shared script and checklist for the moment an online relationship starts asking for money. It is written for a parent and a teen to use together, with no shaming language and no urgency framing.
Limit first: This is a family-planning aid, not a fraud investigation and not legal advice. It cannot identify who anyone is online, and it does not replace a report to the platform or the payment provider.
Open the companion tool →One human next step
If money has already moved, contact the payment provider or bank together the same day — doing it with the teen rather than for them keeps them in the room. Report the account to the platform as well.
Research log and safety checks
AI-assist path: not used for a verdict. This is a shared script and checklist, and its whole value depends on the teenager doing the checks themselves; §0.5a also rules out any urgency or scarcity framing in the app copy. §6.10: not a frontier-pace topic.
§0.5 protection result: category is family-teen-safety; crisis-adjacent: no; fear/urgency/scarcity toolkit used: no. The protective function is free and the paid feature is convenience only.