Where there's an advantage, there's also a disadvantage and I believe that what sets some people apart from the lot is morals and i agree that these days it's quite difficult to differentiate who is a legit online worker and who isn't but I believe that such things, especially the illegal ones have their ways of coming to light.
The kid got easily influenced because I doubt there was anyone to tell him the extent at which his actions could cost him.

Yes! A thief at age 18 is no child, those bad directions have been forming for some time and are not new thoughts. That kid needs to be forced to face reality, perhaps even go to jail for a while, or he will be at risk of always being a criminal.

It's not as if the little boy might not know what will be the after effect but just that he might have been blinded by the influence from friends and the sweetness of money which is being gotten by doing those cheap scam, which makes the person not to care about what ever will be the effect later as they also think they can't be tracked, and its also very much possible that they don't really know about the effect like you have said unless being told and we can tell what will be the after decision even if they know about it.

Upbringing is the key, of course, if you are a good parent, you will always make sure that your children learn what's right and what's wrong, what's good and what's bad for them at their age or the age they are going to enter. This will make things clearl in their minds, and they won't get confused when choosing between the right and the wrong, because they will remember your teachings, and if you don't do any of that, don't even teach anything to your children and think that they will learn everything themselves, there is a high chance that they will choose the wrong path because it's usually easier.

The temptation for growth is so great that it can shake anyone's patience. If you notice, bad things usually come with greater growth, because if you choose the right path, you might have more hurdles in the way of success, but the success you get will have more value and strength compared to the success you get from the shortcuts.

So undoubtedly, only a parent or a good guardian can teach all these things to a kid, or, they might not be able to choose the right path.

Scammers aren’t smart, their victims are just gullible or too greedy to see the signs. I have been seeing a bunch of scam stories online where the scammers were caught because they used a centralized exchange to receive crypto from their victims. It’s funny how these scammers do not know that the coins are linked to their identity. They just assume crypto is magic and untraceable.

I will engage my kids to know internet money(bitcoin) before they even start going to kindergarten but the level of exposure is going to be limited to the things they know. I don't want to be a dad that will be teaching my kids the things they need to know early at the age of teenage. I once saw a bitcoin book thread here for kids explaining basic things Bitcoin can do for people, those are the kind of books parents with aspiring Bitcoin can get to their kids to learn and not necessarily learn the technical aspect.

I will be happy if my kid have a place in his heart to have some Bitcoin, like if I can get the opportunity to go back in time I will be what I want my kid to do now but unfortunately I can't do that but I can make my kids do the same. The problem here is that this guy parents failed him, they didn't do the duty of parent or maybe they did but didn't try enough to study what their kids done behind scenes, children can be innocent until you see the things they do in hidden.