Understanding Online Predators
Larry: Why is the National Center so concerned about these social networking sites that are popping up?
John: Now kids can put information into profiles that has everything from their location, interests, friends, family members to their everyday lives. This is a situation where children have opportunities to leave way too much information about themselves online especially when it comes to sites that are specifically designed as meeting locations for people. People are going though, reading this information and child predators are preying on this type of data.
If predators have information about a child's likes, dislikes and friends, what can they do with it?
They can use that information against you. We've seen all kinds of different situations where they are able to locate you and find out what school you go to. We've found information where people have done queries to find out when children were doing half days of school. They've continued to read those profiles and find out that the parents work all day long so they're able to ascertain when the child is home alone which makes for an extremely dangerous situation.
What about the grooming process? Is it true that the more a predator knows about a child, the easier it is to get the child to go along with them?
That is a part of it. In a lot of these situations, for the child predators, it's the initiation of the conversation. On the blogs, for example, if a child puts into the information that he's devoted to a particular religion, we've seen the where a predator uses the approach of an atheist knowing that the child will want to converse with that individual in an attempt to convert them to their religion. It's a classic luring technique and gives the predator something to talk about with the child each and every day.
Many of the kids who are on these sites say they're over 14 and often say they're 16 or 17. It's hard to imagine a predator sort of swooping them away so easily – they're big – what is the risk for these older teenagers?
They are most definitely at risk. As kids progress into the older ages, they are looking for more and if they are not getting the attention they need in the real world you better believe there's someone in the online world that's quick to give it to them. In some cases, they don't tell their real age, but even older teens are susceptible to gifts. They can register what they want [in an online gift registry or wish-list site]. Parents need to watch out for gifts showing up that the parents didn't order.
It appears as if some kids feel safe when they're using social networking services – almost as if they think that they're in a private world, surrounded only by their friends.
That's an unfortunate situation. Some of these children have computers in the bedroom. They can be on those computers any time of the day, so of course they feel safe within their own home and in their own environment.
How does the grooming process work? If a predator knows the kids' musical tastes, what actors they like, the type of food they like. Does that help the predator get into the child's confidence?
Of course that helps out (the predator), and that's why we have a campaign called “don't believe the type” located on CyberTipline.com. What we're trying to tell these kids – especially the young girls – is, don't believe what these individuals are telling you. The kids are going online for different reasons. They're seeking something, whether it's friends, reassurances for their lives. If they feel they're ugly, fat, depressed – whatever it is the predator is going to hop right in to tell them how beautiful they are and how smart they are – they want to make that connection so that the child feels nobody else understands them like this individual – this individual who's on the other side of that computer. Well, you can't believe the type because most likely there are three or four other kids just like you receiving the same line from these predators.
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