Parents are often unaware of the dangers their children face from online predators. While parents think their children would never be victims, statistics show that 1 in 7 children are sexually solicited online everyday. Children frequently post too much personal information on social media sites, making it easy for predators to contact them. Parents must monitor their children's internet activity and educate them about internet safety in order to protect them from the real risks of sexual exploitation posed by online predators.

1. INTERNET
PREDATORS;
PARENTS CLUELESS
ABOUT THE DANGER
ONLINE
.
CS-2 Miguel Tachna

2. PARENTS CLUELESS?
 Most parents know that this predators do
exist, but they think that, their son will
never be a victim, and they do nothing
about it to protect the family.

3. THE PROBLEM…
 Is that someone who “knows” computers has
helped to convince the parent that it is some
strange new territory with new rules and the old
rules just don't apply anymore. But the old and
tradicional rules DO apply because the internet
is a total real world.

4. ITS A REAL WORLD
 The “net-cops” make conferences with
parents at schools making this comparations:
 Do you let your kids steal?"
"Do you let your kids talk to strange adults?"
"Do you let your kids tell strangers where he
lives?"
"Do you let your kids visit places like that
downtown?"
"Then why do you let them do it online?
Because THEY told you it was different?"

5. How big is the problem?
 1 in 7 children are sexually solicited
online EVERYDAY
 1 in 3 children are exposed to
pornographic images online EVERYDAY
 An estimated 80% of convicted sex
offenders have access to a computer and
are online DAILY
 SOURCE: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

6. Where are children/teens
in the most danger online?
 Chat sites
 ICQ, MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger,
AIM,
 Profile Sites
 Myspace, Facebook, Livejournal, Xanga
 Online Games
 Runescape

7. What kind of information
is posted intentionally?
Name
Address
Phone Number
Email Address
School
Favorite Activities
Special Messages to Friends

8. Too much information…
 Children and teens post information
about themselves online by their own will.
 Most online profile sites offer very little in
the way of protection of the information
that is posted by users
 Facebook is the “safest” online profile
site for teens to use

9. Terrible Tragedies
 Spring 2002: Connecticut
 13 year old Christina Long becomes the first murder
victim because of MySpace.com
 February 2006: Connecticut
 7 teenage girls are sexually assaulted by men they
met on Myspace.com
 June 2006: Michigan
 16 year old Katherine Lester agrees to fly to Israel
to meet a 20 year old man that she met on
Myspace.com authorities intercept her in Jordan

10. Sex Offenders
and MySpace.com
 MySpace.com has found 744 registered sex
offenders with profiles
 Edwin Hall, arrested for the June 2007 murder
of Kelsey Smith, listed favorite pastimes on his
MySpace.com account as: “Eating small
children and harming animals.”
 Little is being done to delete and/or monitor
suspected sex offender profiles

11. Attitudes
 “It can’t happen to me”
 “I’m smarter than adults
online”
 “I would know if I was being
cyber-stalked”
 “Parents are paranoid”

12. Who are the victims of
Internet sex crimes?
 Most are teenagers 12-17 (approximately
30% being male)
 Most know they’re getting involved in a
sexual relationship with an adult.
 99% of Internet victims are ages 13-17
Stats from University of New Hampshire National Study,
October 2001-July 2002

13. Teens most vulnerable…
 Have poor relationships with parents
(Adolescent girls who report high degree of conflict with their parents,
boys who report low parental monitoring)
 Suffer from loneliness or depression
(Teens turning to the Internet to alleviate their loneliness)
 Are gay or questioning boys
(Boys who use the Internet to seek out information about homosexuality)
 Compliant or Statutory Victims
(Those victims who actually cooperate with offenders and develop
strong sexual attachments to them)

14. DANGER IN YOUR HOME
 Children are dying at the hands of their
Internet child molesters and, not all
sexual exploitation of children happens
offline.
 Some exploit the victims in their own
homes.

15. The Face-to-Face Meeting
 The predator will arrange a meeting with
the child with the intent of assaulting
him/her
 The child often willingly agrees to this
meeting because they believe they have
made a new “friend”

16. Offenders: Who are they?
 There is no one “profile” of an online
predator
 Offenders are:
 Divorced, single, married
 Ages 14-70
 Rich, poor, middle class
 Many are involved with children and teens because
they live with them, work with them, or volunteer
with groups that provide activities for youth
 Source: PA Internet Crimes Against
Children Taskforce

17. Internet Safety Tips
 Keep the computer in a common area
 Don’t use chat rooms
 Don’t talk to strangers
 Don’t give out personal
information
 Monitor what your children do online
 NO MYSPACE!!!!