“Stalkers looking through fences are a statistical anomaly.”
On the Internet,” says Georgetown Police Sgt. Jamieson Allen, “the potential threat pool is everyone on the planet with a phone.”
Following are just the basics, but to find out more, Sgt. Allen recommends the Center for Missing and Exploited Children (MissingKids.org). The bottom line is to be engaged with and supportive of your children, and be aware of what they are doing online; especially on their phones.
Control and review your child’s social footprint, the apps used, and personal information on profiles. Too much information gives criminals a head start, and they are already at it 24 hours a day.
Installing monitoring software on your child’s phone is not snooping; it’s parenting. Not to do it is akin to leaving them alone in the jungle to survive.
RED FLAGS
Exploitation begins with “grooming;” building trust with a person to get information, discover vulnerabilities, and using those weaknesses to solicit explicit photos.
Conversations start with an innocent “Friend me” request in a social media platform or online game. They engage, console, and compliment; gradually steering to other things.
- Never accept a friend request, share a phone number, or agree to meet with someone you do not know personally. “Even if it is a person they recognize, it is safest to inquire in person about it, to make sure they are not being catfished.”
- Regularly read your child’s chats and messages on games, Facebook and Instagram. Take note of things clearly not written by native English speakers, or using language that seems too mature for the writer’s (alleged) age.
- Snapchat deletes photos, but criminals will screen- grab, or take a photo of the photo with another phone.
- Predators create programs to alert them when new members arrive in chat areas, or when keywords are typed; anything that indicates a person is looking for online affirmation, which they can exploit.
- Report red flags to app hosts. Most social media platforms will deactivate fraudulent accounts.
Sgt. Allen works undercover, using a female persona, to root out predators. “I posted that I was looking for babysitting jobs. Within ten minutes I had 100 emails—all asking me to send a photo. It’s a numbers game; if they target 500 kids a day, three or four may become victims.”
Child photos are the “currency” of the criminal enterprise. Most people start by asking for face pics and it escalates. Every time the victim responds, the requests include more skin until the photos become illegal. Once the predator has the photo he wants, he will threaten the child with exposure or harm to extort ever-more photos.
Whom to Call
Sgt. Allen says if you have a concern, we are fortunate to have the resources in our own police department, but not every city does. Contacting our city, county, and state leaders may help give our officers more tools, and personnel, to combat the problem.
What You Can Do
Understand your child—especially under 14 years—can be intimidated by threats of shame and violence, even against family members. They need to realize their photos have already been sold, so the threat of distribution, if more are not sent, is empty. Just don’t. And tell someone.
Even if you send a photo to someone you trust, there is no guarantee that person will never be hacked. It’s just best to never do it at all.
Save conversations, including photos, and report the incident; anonymously, if you choose. Even if your report is not investigated, you have flagged an account that is likely just one in a long line of victimizations, and you may be helping spare even one more victim.
“There is no age limit, it happens to both genders, and many children are too embarrassed or scared to talk about it so there’s no telling how many victims there are out there.”
Web search the latest stories and threats; use those to have an adult conversation and help your child understand the risks. “Reassure them no matter what may have happened, you are on their side. Remind them people our age didn’t have to worry about this kind of crime, so you will fix it together.”