A mother has told of her horror of realising an online predator was grooming her teenage daughter on Facebook, sparking renewed warnings from safety experts.
The WA mum-of-four became suspicious when she read a message from a user called “Sarah Jamesy” while monitoring her 14-year-old’s page.
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“At first I didn’t pay attention because it was a woman’s name,” the mother, who did not wish to be named to protect her daughter’s privacy, told The Bunbury Mail.
“But then I saw a message that said ‘I didn’t mean to scare you’ which made me scroll up the conversation.”
“Sarah Jamesy” had repeatedly private messaged her daughter with compliments before asking her to send nude photos. “For all I knew, Sarah Jamesy could have been an older man asking my daughter to send provocative photos,” she said.
The predator had also friended 50 other young girls at local high schools. The incident has been reported to police.
Detective Inspector Stephen Loth, of Queensland Police’s online child protection branch Task Force Argos, told aww.com.au it was vital for parents to engage with and understand what their children are doing online.
Because today’s children are digital natives, Det Insp Loth said their digital immigrant parents should take the time to sit down with them and ask how their social media applications work.
“We are not able to stop kids communicating online,” he said. “We just want to ensure they do it as safely as possible and to limit the amount of information [they] are putting out there on the internet.”
Parents should determine the privacy setting on social media applications, which tend to be set to open as a default, and reach a family agreement on monitoring rather than spying on their children’s activities, he says.
“While mum and dad may set rules about what we can or can’t do, kids always have to be able to come to parents if they are feeling uncomfortable about something, such as having an unwanted approach [online],” Det Insp Loth said.
Other measures include ensuring kids know everyone on their friends list in real life and understand that they should never send sexually explicit images. “Any information you put out there has got to be information you don’t mind everyone seeing,” Det Insp Loth added. “Once you’ve sent it, you’ve lost control.”
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Risks include criminal prosecution for pornography and reputation damage that could affect kids in the future. Even photos that allegedly self-destruct within moments of being received on applications like Snapchat can be recovered.
With an “increasing uptake of technology in Australia” and “an explosion in smartphones”, Det Insp Loth said it was more important than ever to be aware of the potential dangers of digital technology alongside the benefits.
For more resources on how to keep your kids safe online, visit Queensland Police’s safety tips here.
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