The internet, for all its benefits, also gives criminals and predators an easy way to reach young people for sextortion.
Most Prevalent Crimes Against Children
According to FBI data, the FBI most often sees crimes against children begin when an adult:
Forges a relationship with a young victim online and then later arranges to meet and abuse the child; or coerces a child into producing sexually explicit images or videos through manipulation, gifts, or threats—a crime.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reported a nearly 50 percent increase in possible “sextortion” cases from 2019 to 2021, as the population spent more time in front of their electronic devices during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
According to StaySafe.org, they estimate there are 750,000 predators online trolling for victims, Buena Vista author John DiGirolamo said.
DiGirolamo takes aim at the issue with his new booklet, “It’s Not About the Predator: A Parent’s Guide to Internet & Social Media Safety.”
The 30-page document offers practical ways parents can protect their children. It outlines how predators groom and work their victims online, provides specific proactive actions for parents, and includes tips from an experienced law enforcement officer.
“With the internet, it is the great equalizer of our day,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, live in the city or live in the suburbs or the middle of nowhere, if you are online anyone can see you. It is not just here in the United States, there are a lot of predators in other countries. It is more pervasive than people think.”
The Colorado Department of Law released a consumer alert advising parents how they can help keep their kids safe online, including from sextortion, a crime that involves adults coercing kids and teens into sending explicit images online.
Helpful FBI Tips to Keep Our Kids Safe Online
The report includes the following tips from the FBI:
- The most important advice for parents is to have open and ongoing conversations about safe and appropriate online behavior
- Educate yourself about the websites, software, games, and apps that your children use
- Check their social media and gaming profiles and posts. Have conversations about what is appropriate to say or share
- Explain to your kids that once images or comments are posted online, they can be shared with anyone and never truly disappear
- Make sure your kids use privacy settings to restrict access to their online profiles
- Tell your children to be extremely wary when communicating with anyone online who they do not know in real life
- Encourage kids to choose appropriate screen names and to create strong passwords
- Make it a rule with your kids that they can’t arrange to meet up with someone they met online without your knowledge and supervision
- Stress to your children that making any kind of threat online—even if they think its a joke—is a crime
- Report any inappropriate contact between an adult and your child to law enforcement immediately. Notify the site they were using, too
In addition to the consumer report, the Colorado Department of Law also partnered with Comcast to produce public service announcements, including one from Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser.
“I am Colorado’s Attorney General, but my most important title is parent,” he said. “It is important that each of us knows what our kids do when they venture into the virtual world. Talk to your kids about their responsibility online. Show them how to tell safe spaces from unsafe ones. Keep family internet use in the open and remind kids that strangers can be dangerous online as well. Let’s keep our Colorado kids safe.”
DiGirolamo said the growing problem of online predators comes at a time when children of all ages have smartphones.
“Part of that is that over the last decade, everybody has a smartphone,” he said. “As smartphones have come of age, we have seen a lowering in an age when kids have a phone. They may be savvy with their phone, but what they are not savvy with is online scams, etc. And so many of these applications, whether it is a game, Snapchat, or other apps, all have some kind of chat room, and that is where the predators hang out. They can create a profile very quickly and easily, and act like another 10-year-old playing a game and build this relationship online.”
7 Areas of Consideration
DiGirolamo presents the information in seven sections of his booklet:
- How predators approach teens online
- Real examples of predator tactics to exploit kids and teens
- Tips for parents and ways to protect your child
- Is social media safe?
- What an undercover police officer wants parents to know
- How teens circumvent parental controls on electronic devices
- How pornography and our culture feed sexting, extortion, and human trafficking.
The booklet offers resources, including recommended parental control apps such as Qustodio and Life360.
DiGirolamo also provides explanations – and solutions – of how teens often use technology to cover or erase their tracks online in the section titled “Teens Can Be Sneaky.”
“You would definitely want to have a parental control app on the phone,” he said. “Those are going to be guardrails, but they aren’t going to be fail-safe. I think the parent really needs to control what programs are downloaded on the phone. They need to know what is going on. They need to start on a regular and consistent basis reviewing the activities that their kid is in. There are lots of stories out there how these predators are finding and talking to these kids through the chatrooms. You are going to want to have those conversations. As a parent, you are going to have to be diligent.”
“It’s Not About the Predator” was born as a consequence of DiGirolamo’s presentations about his book on human trafficking, “It’s Not About the Sex,”.
“I would get a lot of questions about how predators worked online,” he said. “I dug into the topic, researched, and learned a lot. I put that into my presentations.”
Along with “It’s Not About the Predator” and “It’s Not About the Sex,” DiGirolamo is the author of “It’s Not About the Badge,” stories about small-town law enforcement.
He is a retired CPA who worked in management positions at both small and large technology companies and currently lives in Chaffee County.
DiGirolamo said “It’s Not About the Predator,” is a quick guide to give parents a path to help keep their children safe.
“I have done a little research so parents don’t have to,” he said. “This is a quick and easy read that helps parents figure out what is going on out there. I think it is the best $6 investment a parent could make.”
