Police Warn of Web Dangers
Police warn of Web dangers Woodbridge talk offers safety tips Home News Tribune Online 03/26/06 By DEBORAH LYNN BLUMBERG STAFF WRITER dblumberg@thnt.com WOODBRIDGE — Parents must better monitor their children's buddy lists, profiles and other online activity to keep Internet predators at bay, state police detective Michael Tansey told residents yesterday during a presentation on Internet safety. A sergeant in the state's digital technology investigations unit, Tansey spoke at the Woodbridge Community Center to several dozen children and their parents about IP addresses, chat rooms, cyber bullying and the techniques employed by professional predators. Parents can't keep their children off the Internet, Tansey said, but they can keep them safe. "Parents, if you do not allow your kids on instant messenger they will be social outcasts," Tansey said. "But you can be in control of what they do." Together, adults and children should go through buddy lists to make sure each "buddy" is really a friend, Tansey said. If the child doesn't know the person's full name, phone number and address, the buddy should be deleted. Both adults and children must act responsibly online, said Tansey, because the Internet is not anonymous. "Things like changing you're screen name don't make a difference," said Tansey, who often poses as children online to catch predators. "You're not invisible; we know who you are." The talk was hosted by the Sisters of Promise, a new, local nonprofit that mentors and holds social and educational events for girls ages 11-14. The event inspired questions about search engines, Internet hosts and the MySpace social-networking Web site on which users post profiles and pictures. "We felt a talk about Internet safety was important with all the news stories lately about missing girls," said Christine Buteas, Sisters of Promise program manager. "A lot of those incidents have been attributed to certain Web sites and fake profiles." Linden resident Pat Morek said she attended the talk to pick up a few new safety tips. Morek worries that some Web sites make it too easy for teens to share personal information. "I felt uneasy about MySpace from the beginning," said Morek. Morek changed the password on her home computer when her son, Jonathan, 17, tried to access the Web site. She said parents should regularly check the Internet history on a child's computer to make sure the child isn't getting into trouble. Briana Sims, 12, of Fords said she's online for up to two hours a day and logs onto myspace.com several times a week. But her mother blocks her profile so only her friends can see it, she said. Margaret Osafo, 9, also of Fords, said her dad monitors her chats. "He said, if you don't know the person, call him so he can check it," Margaret said. During the talk, Tansey described the luring process, which often includes the exchange of pictures and gifts and, in about 20 percent of cases, in-person meetings. Close to 70 percent of kids who actually meet face-to-face with a predator they met online end up dead, Tansey said. Most bystanders interpret an adult pulling a screaming child as a behavioral problem, not an abduction, he said. To begin a dialogue with children, online predators pose as peers, talking about topics like music, school and sports. Professional predators will often court multiple children at a time, keeping chat transcripts and photos in separate folders, Tansey said. As talks continue, the predator gradually admits he's older than he first said. A 12-year-old is suddenly 15, then 18, then 22. Children unknowingly drop details that aid the criminal — age, a problem with a parent, the name of the school basketball team. "It's a slow process," said Tansey. "A lot of kids don't even say where they live. Predators figure it out from clues." Children are tempted by statements such as: "You wouldn't like me, I'm too old for you," or "My friend just sent me a picture of two people doing something naughty, but you're too young to see it," Tansey said. But paying close attention to children's online activity can prevent such dialogues from even starting, said Tansey. Eliminating the victim base is the only real way to stop online crime. "Law enforcement is playing catch-up in Internet crime," Tansey said, "but the good news is we're playing catch-up pretty fast." Deborah Lynn Blumberg: (732) 565-7264; dblumberg@thnt.com http://www.thnt.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/NEWS01/603260449/1001