Look closely at the email below. It looks official, it uses a well-known logo and it says your account is in danger. Would you click the link? What clues tell you it is a trick?

Image source: File:Example phishing email.svg (Wikimedia Commons)

In this post:

• What computer crime (cybercrime) is
• Identity theft, credit card fraud, phishing and hacking, plus cyber-extortion and cyber-terrorism
• How serious each crime is, from one person to a whole country
• The consequences, in Trinidad and Tobago and around the world
• A phishing spotter, a sorting activity, a role-play and a quiz

What is computer crime?

A computer crime (or cybercrime) is any crime that uses a computer, phone or network, or that targets them. Some are old crimes done in a new way, like stealing money. Others only exist because of computers, like breaking into a network.

Crime	What it is	Example
Identity theft	Stealing someone’s personal details (name, date of birth, ID number, passwords) and pretending to be them.	A criminal uses your mother’s details to open a loan in her name.
Credit card fraud	Using someone else’s card or card number to buy things without permission.	A card number is stolen from a fake shopping site and used to buy goods online.
Phishing	Fake emails, texts, calls or websites that trick people into giving away passwords, card numbers or money. Text-message phishing is sometimes called smishing.	A text says “Your bank account is locked. Log in here to unlock it.”
Hacking	Getting into a computer, account or network without permission.	Guessing a classmate’s password and reading their messages, or breaking into a company’s computers.
Cyber-extortion	Threatening to harm a person or business (lock or leak their data) unless they pay.	Ransomware locks a hospital’s files and demands payment.
Cyber-terrorism	Attacking important computer systems to cause fear or serious damage, often for political reasons.	An attack that shuts down a country’s power or water systems.

How serious is it? Levels of computer crime

All computer crimes cause harm, but some reach much further than others. One way to judge how serious a crime is: ask how many people are harmed, how badly, and whether it was planned.

Level	Who is harmed	Examples
Personal	One person or one family	Someone’s social media account is hacked; a grandparent loses money to a phishing call
Organisation	A whole business, school, bank or hospital, and everyone who uses it	A company’s customer records are stolen; ransomware shuts down a school’s computers
National and international	A whole country, or several countries at once	Attacks on power, water, government or banking systems; criminal gangs stealing from people in many countries

Consequences

• For victims: lost money, damaged credit, stress and embarrassment, lost files and photos, and a lot of time spent fixing things. Businesses can lose customers and their good name.
• For criminals: computer crimes are against the law. In Trinidad and Tobago, the Computer Misuse Act makes it an offence to get into or damage computer systems and data without permission. Offenders can be fined or sent to prison, and fraud and identity theft are crimes too.
• Around the world: a criminal in one country can attack people in another, so police forces work together across borders. Many countries have their own cybercrime laws, and some people who commit cybercrime are extradited (sent to another country) to face trial.
• For everyone: banks and businesses spend more on security, and those costs are passed on to customers.

Protect yourself

• Never share passwords, PINs or one-time codes, not even with someone who says they are from your bank. Real banks do not ask for them.
• Check the sender’s address and hover over links before clicking. When in doubt, go to the official website or app yourself.
• Use strong, different passwords and turn on two-step verification.
• Keep personal details (ID numbers, address, date of birth) off social media.
• If something goes wrong, tell a trusted adult straight away. They can contact the bank, the platform and the police.

Watch: understanding spam and phishing

This video explains how phishing messages work and the warning signs to look for.

Video: Understanding Spam and Phishing – LearnFree – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI37JI7KnSc

Activity: spot the phishing clues

Activity: which level?

Group activity: act it out

In groups of three or four, write and act out a short scene (two to three minutes) about one computer crime from this post. Your scene must show:

1. How the crime happens (for example, the phishing text arriving).
2. The warning signs the victim notices, or misses.
3. The consequences for the victim and for the criminal.
4. What the victim should do: who they tell and how they protect themselves next time.

After each scene, the class decides: which level was this crime (personal, organisation or national), and how could it have been prevented?

Related posts on islandclass.org

There is no older post on islandclass.org about computer crime for Forms 1–3 yet, so this post is the main lesson. The previous post, on malware, spam and firewalls, goes well with it.

For later, in Forms 4–5 (CSEC IT): these go deeper and are for when you reach CSEC Information Technology.

• Computer Misuse (Part 2): Malware, Phishing, Identity Theft, Denial of Service, Data Theft, Eavesdropping and Espionage
• Videos: Computer Misuse

Next: Writing an Algorithm in Plain English

Syllabus link: Forms 1–3 ICT curriculum, Module 4, Objective 4.11 – assess various levels of computer crime.

Attributions to media used in this post:

• Example phishing email.svg – Isochrone, Wikimedia Foundation, Philip Metschan – CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
• Video: Understanding Spam and Phishing – LearnFree (YouTube)

Updates

2026/10/17

– Example web address shown as plain text so it can’t be clicked.

2026/10/21

– Fixed the activity code so its buttons keep working.

© 2026 Vedesh Kungebeharry. All rights reserved.