Cyber Stalkers Online: How Crooks Put Children at Risk

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Cyber Stalkers Online: How Crooks Put Children at Risk

Do parents really know what children do online? Are we helping them be safe from stalkers and pedophiles, and other criminals? The truth is most parents are not helping a lot. Every day, as adults we have our own lives, and trust our children are using the internet in a responsible manner.

It is hard for many to see or notice the real dangers of the internet. After all, most of today´s parents were raised before the internet was actually available at every home, and of course having it on a mobile device was like a science fiction movie. But this is no excuse for anyone, especially for grownups who have the responsibility of taking care of a minor. Russian private investigators recommend parents to get informed and share the information with other parents who might need it. Protecting children online is very important, as there are serious criminals targeting young people.

Lots of parents think that as long as kids are home, they will be safe. These days, nothing farther from the truth. Your kids might be in their rooms playing with the computer, but this is not necessarily equal to being safe. Not anymore, unfortunately. While parents check their own emails on their own computers, or watch TV, or cook dinner, kids are being harassed by criminals and stalkers. And if adults are not aware of the online threats we face today, they won´t be able to protect them.

Cyber criminals know how to reach their targets. Many are part of online children gaming websites, where they know they find lots of kids. Normally, they will make contact with a victim posing as another kid or teenager, and will begin an “online friendship” with bad intentions. Then they will be carried to some other chat platform and eventually the criminal will try to lure them into giving information about them or their parents, or into very serious crimes like posing nude for them. A recent publication revealed how children were abused in real life within an hour of meeting online. And this could all be happening while your kid is in his/her room “playing with the computer”.

The online mafia that is behind this kind of crimes knows very well how to get away with what they want. They have a lot of experience as romance scammers and hackers, and know pretty much how to get into a role and act it as if it was real. Just think of this: if adults are fooled every day by Russian dating scammers, why wouldn´t a child fall for it?

What do these criminals want?

Some of them just want information about the parents and the house. Some of the criminals get credit card information with phishing emails and fake websites links supposedly to buy new games, or get more credit on a gaming site. Parents are not always experts in these kids gaming sites, and Russian hackers use the opportunity to insert links with malware that no one should click on.

Others are pedophiles looking for some photos, and are the worst of criminals. In these cases, it’s especially important to teach your children about the risks online, and how strangers on the internet can pose just as serious as a threat as a stranger in the real world. Just like you don’t want to get into a stranger’s car on the street, kids should know you don’t want to chat or email with an online criminal or an online predator. After all, many real world crimes occur after meeting online.

Today’s threats are more than just identity theft and hacking. Law enforcement and international investigator companies know that even kidnapping cases have been linked to online activity. So the more attention and education we give our kids on the risks, the safer they are.

How are adults not helping?

We share their pictures in public social networks all the time. We add their names, where they go to school, how old they are, names of relatives, etc, etc. We add so much information without stopping to think for a moment that this is all information that can be used to harm them. Let your children grow up to be an adult, so they can decide whether or not they want to lose their privacy.

Children understand pretty well the risks when we take the time to explain them what is going on. Take the time to teach them what´s right and wrong, the importance of sharing less, and keep your photos for the family album only, offline and out of the hands of internet criminals.