The New Tricks of Cyber Predators
The New Tricks Of Cyber Predators created: 4/27/2006 3:38:02 PM updated: 4/28/2006 12:38:58 PM by: Deanne Lane (KSDK) -- One in every five kids who uses the Internet is sexually solicited online. It's a fact backed up by the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children. These cyber predators know how to manipulate kids, creating trust and friendship where none should exist. Police tell us an online offender is always looking for new ways to connect with victims. "The blogs are much more user friendly, particularly to the kids," says Sgt. Joe Laramie, of the Glendale Police Department and a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. "So if I'm a bad guy, I'm going to where the kids are, and that's where they are right now." The blogs, social networks such as Myspace, Zanga, Facebook, Blackplanet, are where teens share photos, weblogs, and other personal information with each other. It's these user profiles parents need to know about. "You would never walk into the mall with a sign up that says here's my name, here's my address, here's my phone number, here's how old I am and this is my schedule for the next week, but that's really what they're doing." Laramie spends his days hunting anyone using technology to sexually exploit children. He says teens unknowingly give a number of clues allowing a predator to zero in on a potential victim. Looking at an example of how much information teens give up, Laramie finds some interesting items an experienced predator could take advantage of. "She gives up her cell phone number, and then down here it says 'I'm so happy I'm going to Florida for my birthday' and since we know her birthday, we know maybe her house will be empty that day." Laramie says with just these bits of information, a predator could find out much more about any unsuspecting teen. "How would you find that house, oh gee, you take your last name, the city and the state and an online search directory and then you find, there it is. And then we take that one step further, and we use the Mapquest and lets find her house and how it relates to other houses in the neighborhood." Predators can manipulate even the smallest bits of information about your kids: their likes and dislikes, their favorite music, where they hang out, what games they play. "X-Box live is really popular. There's a game in the St. Louis area called Runescape," said Laramie. Online gaming sites are a new favorite of predators. These sites allow kids to play against each other - live. "But the problem is that they're also talking live with someone, or chatting using an instant messaging system live with the person." In these chats, predators work to earn your child's confidence and trust and when they get it: "We've been playing games live, let's play in real life. You know you're a really good player and I really like playing against you, you know I'd love to sit in the same room as you and be able to play against you," says Laramie, impersonating a typical online game site predator. But this explosion of social change and technology is leaving some parents behind. If you think you're one, Sgt. Laramie has a message for you: Catch up. Fast. "There are lots of areas of concern that you just don't know what your kids can get into." More and more parents like Jeff Bogard want more information. "I would like a regular update from somebody, some expert that keeps me a step ahead of my kids." Sgt. Laramie is trying to do just that, speaking before parents at schools all across the St. Louis area. "If there's anything that you hear from me tonight, it's the word communication." Laramie speaks to everyone: parents, children, and teachers. Anyone who will listen. Education is where it starts. Here is what you can start doing right now. "If it's Saturday night and your teenager is going out, you're going to ask them three questions. Where are you going? Who you going with? What time are you coming home? With Internet use in the home, it should be the same questions," said Laramie. Also get the computers out of the bedrooms, limit time of Internet access and supervise use of Web cams, but most importantly, talk to your children about who is really out there. "A stranger is a stranger is a stranger is what we teach our children when they're small and we forget to teach them that when they're older. But they need to still hear that message when they're dealing with the Internet." http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=95900