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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Hilary Osborne

‘Fullz’, ‘clicking’ and ‘addys’: how teens talk about fraud

The silhouette of a hand looms over a keyboard
Young people may look at online scams as free money – and possibly a victimless crime if they think banks will reimburse everyone. Photograph: Pictorman/Alamy

Kaf Okpattah can speak the language of scammers. “Squares is one word which comes up a lot. That’s bank cards,” he says. “Fullz … that’s a person’s full financial information.”

In his new book, Scam Nation, he goes through more. “Clicking”, which means using stolen details to commit online crime; “addy”, which is used for the shipping address for fraudulently bought gear; and “mule herder”, meaning someone who recruits and manages people accepting stolen funds. Many of these are words he learned at school, he says.

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