Children use debit cards for internet gambling and porn

Children are buying knives, alcohol, tobacco, and pornographic films on the internet, a report has warned.

They are using debit cards issued by banks to children as young as 11 to buy items they would be denied on the high street. Some even use the cards for internet gambling.

Children's charities raised the alarm about this illegal trade in a report to a parliamentary inquiry into personal internet security. They said many parents were ignorant of how their children were using the internet, putting the youngsters at greater risk from online dangers including paedophiles.

The Children's Charities Coalition on Internet Safety said debit cards such as NatWest's Solo were being issued to children as young as 11.

"These can be used to make online payments," the group's chairman John Carr told the Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology.

He said a "reliable visual check of a person's age" was practically impossible on the internet, meaning children could access agerestricted goods or services. "They have been able to gamble, buy knives, alcohol or tobacco, or adult videos," he added. " Children and other young people have also been victims of online fraud."

Mr Carr, new technology adviser to NCH (National Children's Homes), said it had received calls from parents with children as young as 12 who had been gambling online.

Cases of internet under age sales of knives, alcohol, tobacco, and pornography had been reported to the Trading Standards Institute, he added.

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