Parents and guardians can help educate their kids about the very real perils of online grooming by potential predators by sharing the following common warning signs and online safety tips.
Top Red Flags for Kids
– The people they meet online may not be who they claim they are. Would-be adult predators often pretend to be kids or teens.
– Groomers often encourage kids not to tell others about their conversations, telling them that their friendship is special or that other people wouldn’t understand.
– Predators may try to turn kids against their friends or parents, to make them rely more on the relationship with the predator.
– Groomers often use kindness, compliments or unexpected gifts or money to gain kids’ trust.
– Online predators may ask for personal information, which they can use to identify and even locate kids.
– They may try to steer the conversation towards sex-related topics, even asking for explicit images.
Online Safety Tips
– Ensure all social media and gaming accounts are set to private, restricting who can see their information.
– Do not share real name, address, school name, phone number or age with anyone they have never met in person.
– Disable location sharing on apps to prevent strangers from finding their physical location.
– Never arrange to meet anyone in person who they only know online without a parent or trusted adult present in a public place.
– Avoid leaving public platforms to continue a conversation with an online friend to a private or encrypted messaging service.
– Never send nude, partially nude or provocative photos. Predators often use explicit images for blackmail (i.e., “sextortion”), to force kids to do things they don’t want to do.
– Stop communicating with anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable, pressured or nervous.