How to protect your kids from online sexual predators
Posted March 7, 2012 7:08 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – With students off school there are renewed calls to know what your kids are doing on the computer, even if you’re not around.
It’s Stop the Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth Awareness Week, and RCMP Sgt. Bev Csikos says the Integrated Child Exploitation Unit is catching more online sexual predators than ever before. She explains the number one thing you can do to keep your kids safe is talk to them about who they are chatting with online.
“Have open, honest communication about what a friend is, about the security of your home and your family,” she says. “They’re on Facebook or they’re on social networks, they’re chatting with ‘friends,’ as they call it, but do they really know who those ‘friends’ are?”
She adds online child luring is very popular among predators, “because they can do it from the privacy of their home with complete anonymity.”
The problem is no matter how many they find there always seem to be more, like in the case of one small BC town.
“One predator was online speaking to over 40 children from one community, and I can tell you how that devastated that community,” Csikos recalls.
For a ton of information about how to keep kids safe on the Internet or to submit a tip about online sexual exploitation, visit cybertip.ca.
