Sharing – Child abuse predator ‘handbook’ lists ways to target children during coronavirus lockdown
If you want to protect children, you need to know where they are being approached, and how. So I share this not as a news story so much as an informational tool.
“The Covid-19 predator handbook contained details about how to coerce children online to share sexual images and videos of themselves, she said. “The handbook advises predators to get their kicks online rather than trying to meet children face-to-face because of restrictions and heightened vigilance of law enforcement on the streets,” Inman Grant said.
Investigators had seen a marked increase in a phenomena known as “capping”, she said, where abusers took screenshots during explicit video calls and live streams with minors, and then circulated them widely or used them to coerce children.”
I wish I didn’t need to keep sharing these things, but when the article also tells us this bit, I feel compelled:
According to research commissioned by the centre, only 52% of parents or carers talked to their children about online safety.
Your kids are likely online more than ever right now. Do you know who they’re interacting with, and who is talking to them, while you put off talking to them?
