Online Predators

Online predators think of you as prey. They try to trick you into meeting them. Don't fall for their lies. All they want is to hurt you or steal you away from your family. If you think someone is asking for too much information, tell your parents or a trusted adult, pronto. If you don't know someone in real life, then you don't know them and should not trust them.

Predators know that we like chat rooms, peer to peer forums and IM. So that's where they hang out. Then they try to get you to trust them by paying attention to you. They may try to find out what you like to do so they can say they like the same thing. Or they make you think that you can tell them anything and they'll be on your side. They'll make stuff up so it looks like they are doing the same thing with you. And then they'll tell you to keep your friendship a secret, and even threaten you if you don't. Lots of the time they'll slowly bring up stuff about sex and even send you pictures, or try to get you to meet them.

On of the problems for us is that we're sometimes what is called a "willing participant." Sometimes we're bored, curious, lonely or insecure. A lot of us find it easier to talk to people on the web than in real life and to trust people who we have met that way. That makes us potential prey.

So take the time to think about what you say about yourself, and know what to do:

• Make sure your screen name doesn't say too much, don't include stuff like your name, age or hobbies that predators can use.
• Keep PII (what adults call personally identifiable information) private. That's your name, school, social security number, address, age, birthday, phone number and family or friends names to yourself.
• Watch what information you share indirectly. That's your school mascot, when your favorite band played near your home and other stuff they could use to find you.
• Chat with people you know from the real world, from school, band, community groups, your family.
• When someone threatens you or asks for too much information, talk to your parents, a teacher or the local police.