Teen Safety

This Cyber Safety information provided by Family Karate’s Certified Personal Safety Instructors

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Teen Cyber Safety

Internet Safety Tips for Teens

adapted from an article by

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Protect Yourself

1. Don’t give out personal information about yourself, your family situation, your school, your telephone number, or your address.

2. When in chat-rooms remember that not everyone may be who they say they are. For example a person who says "she" is a 14-year-old girl from New York may really be a 42-year-old man from California.1

3. If someone harasses you on-line, says anything inappropriate, or does anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, immediately tell your parents, who can contact your Internet service provider.

4. A friend you meet on-line may not be the best person to talk to if you are having problems at home, with your friends, or at school - remember the teenage "girl" from New York in Tip #2? If you can't find an adult in your school, church, club, or neighborhood to talk to, Covenant House is a good place to call at 1-800-999-9999. The people there provide counseling to kids, refer them to local shelters, help them with law enforcement, and can serve as mediators by calling their parents.

5. If you are thinking about running away, a friend from on-line (remember the 14-year-old girl) may not be the best person to talk to. If there is no adult in your community you can find to talk to, call the National Runaway Switchboard at 1-800-621-4000. Although some of your on-line friends may seem to really listen to you, the Switchboard will be able to give you honest, useful answers to some of your questions about what to do when you are depressed, abused, or thinking about running away.2

Protect Others

If you become aware of the sharing, use, or viewing of child pornography on-line, immediately tell your parents, who can report this to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678. You may be saving another young person’s life.

2. Adapted from Children On-line: The ABCs for Parenting: When Is Your Child Ready by The Children's Partnership. Reprinted with permission of The Children's Partnership. http://www.childrenspartnership.org

This Cyber Safety information provided by Family Karate’s Certified Personal Safety Instructors

For our next TEENSafe® class please click here

or call (760) 746-0983

Teen Cyber Safety

How to Recognize "Grooming"

Tricks, Tactics, & Traps of Internet Predators

adapted from an article by

Anne Collier

Co-founder of BlogSafety and editor of Net Family News

Teens blog and spend time in social-networking sites to meet new friends, but it’s not always easy to tell when “new friends” have bad intentions. About 20%, that’s one out of every five, of on-line kids receive unwanted solicitations

“Grooming” is the way predators get from bad intensions to criminal acts. Basically, grooming is manipulation. It’s the process pedophiles use to get children and teens they target on-line to do what they want, including meeting them in person.

Grooming involves flattery, sympathy, offers of gifts, money, or modeling jobs. It can also involve all of the above over extended periods of time. That’s why it’s called “grooming.” Experts say the short-term goal of these manipulators is for the victim to feel loved or even just comfortable enough to want to meet them in person. This often takes a long time. But groomers have a lot of patience, and also tend to “work” a number of targets at once, telling each of them that they are “the only one for me.” You can imagine how well that can work with kids seeking sympathy, support, or validation on-line.

Grooming is carefully individualized. Groomers design their trap as they go along, specially tailoring their flattery or offers as they learn more about their victim. Here are some tactics you need to watch out for:

· “Let’s go private.” (leave the public chat-room and create a private chat, or move to instant-messaging, or texting)

· “Where’s your computer in the house?” (to see if parents might be around)

· “Who’s your favorite band? designer? film? gear?” (questions like these tell the groomer more about you so they know what gifts to offer - e.g., concert tickets; Webcam, software, clothes, CDs)

· “I know someone who can get you a modeling job.” (flattery, they figure, will get them everywhere)

· “I know a way you can earn money fast.” (one of the tactics that snagged Justin Berry, 13, as reported by the New York Times)

· “You seem sad. Tell me what’s bothering you.” (the sympathy ploy)

· “What’s your phone number?” (asking for personal info of any kind - usually happens at a later stage, after the target’s feeling comfortable with the groomer - but all on-line kids know not to give out personal info on-line, right?!)

· “If you don’t… [do what I ask], I’ll… [tell your parents OR share your photos in a photo blog / Webcam directory / file-sharing network]” (intimidation - used as the groomer learns more and more about the target)

· “You are the love of my life.” (what “Amy,” 15, fell for before traveling out of state to meet someone who’d groomed her - see “Amy’s Story” at Netsmartz.org)

Groomers are self-taught experts in 1) getting kids to reveal their needs and desires and 2) tailoring messages to those interests. And they get better and better at it. Knowing groomers tricks, tactics, and traps can go a long way toward protecting you from on-line predators.

This Cyber Safety information provided by Family Karate’s Certified Personal Safety Instructors

For our next TEENSafe® class please click here

or call (760) 746-0983