The contemporary technological innovations in the shape of cell phones of Androids and IOS and plenty of gadgets have provided opportunities for children to spend most of their time in front of a screen. What do they do on their cellphones and gadget’ screens? The answer is pretty simple and crystal clear: posts, tweets, likes, shares, snaps – the digital is a kind of world that has no boundaries. Young kids and teens do plenty of other activities with modern instant messaging apps, including audio and video conversations, chat conversations, and text messages. Popular social messaging apps are Facebook, Yahoo, Line, Vine, and Snapchat, and even some dating apps such as Tinder.
“The real issue with the use of instant messengers is that once children get on it, they don’t bother to know to whom they are talking, “A law enforcement agency official said.
A well-experienced official has deployed in the private task force in Charlotte that usually targets online predators that are always in search of exploiting young kids and teens using social media apps.
What is a law enforcement official’s view about young social media users?
“It happens every time on social media, “an official added. Online predators trap young teens, and they have to monitor cyber predators in search of “bunny hunting.” The psyche of young social media users, especially young kids and teens, is that the more you have friends and followers on social messaging apps, the more you are famous. So, it has become a piece of cake for kids and predators to connect with each other, and they believe most of the time they are having conversations online because of their age. However, no matter what, if they are strangers and they don’t know them in real –life.
- Predators inhabit social media accounts and pages along with shared media files such as photos of kids and teens they are representing as themselves.
- Predators can easily have chat conversations via social media apps
- Then, finally, they started manipulation in a process, and a local law enforcement agency named it “grooming.”
Reports say: How do cyber predators trap teens & kids?
They initially ask kids and teens what they want to listen to and what they want to hear every single day. Furthermore, they tell teens how pretty they are, how smart they are, and how good at college or school they are. The tactics mentioned earlier are used by online predators such as stalkers, cyberbullies, sexual predators, and others to win the trust of the children. Moreover, once they have the confidence of the target, they would take a step further, such as asking for the photos and videos that need to be in the compromised way, the official further added.
Parents sometimes overreact and say their teens can’t capture naked photos and then share them with strangers. A law enforcement agency officer said that he witnessed these kinds of activities and has seen plenty of them.
How do online predators blackmail victims?
“I don’t believe my son or daughter can do it; every single parent has said the exact quote that’s been the victim of this has said that official has reportedly stated that. Once a teen or kid gets trapped, they will try to blackmail the victim into sending more and more photos and videos, threatening them and saying if they don’t send them more. They will share or post it on the web, such as Facebook, Instagram, and other social media apps.
CBS North Carlina highlighted the risk of sextortion
Since last year, CBS North Carolina has highlighted the risk of sextortion among the children and teens who had to face public embarrassment. However, one out of many cases has made the headlines where a female was involved in grooming a 12-year-old kid. He thought that he was having conversations via instant messenger with an 18-year-old girl and officially explained that. “Having a couple of text messages exchanged on Kik messenger, he has sent nude photos. At the end of the day, a special agent has traced a 26-years-old woman belonging to –old Patrick Killen Miami”.
The law enforcement agency officer said he was close to an 800th victim. “It is the issues that are on the rise. “We have arrested six predators in the current year. However, officer helps out to trace registered sex offenders who have been arrested and have been banned by the law using social media websites and apps.
We have arrested a couple of sex offenders who were found chatting with the children online for sexual means, and even they have already been registered as sex offenders.
Most of the websites have clear rules and regulations against registered sex offenders, but on the other hand, cyber predators are sneaky and tricky.
What cybercrime Law enforcement experts say
- Predators usually don’t use their real names.
- It would be naïve to think for a while that Instagram and Facebook say people cannot be on there and offenders cannot use the apps for sexual grooming or victimization.
- Experts say vulnerabilities through social media are on the rise with every passing day.
- Cybercriminals can be arrested, but once the victims send the photos, then it would be tough for us to fix it.
Parents and kids have to think about the issue and know how to deal with it to get rid of it. Local and federal law enforcement fights the problem daily, but plenty of it cannot be done without the parent’s and children’s contributions. An expert said the incoming calls of strangers on kids’ and teens’ Android cell phone cases are astronomical.
Experts’ opinion on keeping children safe on social media
- Keeping devices with a camera out of the children’s room. Because most of the pictures were captured in a bedroom
- Get your children’s social media app passwords
- Tell your child not to add or follow someone unknown
- Try to get the conversations they usually make with strangers
- Discuss with your child about the cyber predators
- Report any suspicious activity.
- Get to know if the child has multiple social media accounts
Precautions you can take with the Android parental control app
The precautions and tips that cybercrime law enforcement experts have stated do not seem as easy as stated. All you need to do is install the Android monitoring software to monitor your children’s online activities on their cell phones connected to the internet. You must install the cell phone spy app on your kids and teens’ devices.
Once you have done it successfully, you can fully monitor their social messaging app activities. You can use IM’s social media mobile phone monitoring software. You can view IM logs, chat conversations, audio and video conversations, shared videos and photos, and even Android Voice messages such as WhatsApp calls and Facebook Voice messages.
Furthermore, parents can use the live screen recording tool of the Android monitoring app and can record all the activities happening on the cell phone within short videos. You can do Facebook live screen recording, WhatsApp and Instagram live screen recording, and last but not least, Yahoo and Snapchat live screen recording. This will further help parents to get the passwords with the password chaser tool. Moreover, parents can use the MIC bug app to record and listen to the surround voices and get surround visuals of the target Android phone with spyvidcam bug tool.
However, parents can capture images remotely to know where kids and teens are present. You can record and listen to live calls with a call monitoring app and get to know whom kids and teens are stalking on Android cell phone calls. You can view text messages sent or received, such as SMS, MMS, BMM chat messages, and heads-up ticker notifications.
Parents can view captured photos through an Android camera by visiting the gallery on the phone with the help of a multimedia tool of the cell phone monitoring app. Excessive use of social media apps can bring more cyber predators into children’s digital activities. That’s why Parents will get to know whether kids and teens have captured or shared compromised photos via cell phones or instant messengers or not. They can remotely control the Android cell phones of kids and teens with the Android remote controller. This will help parents view the installed apps, block text messages, block incoming calls from strangers, and more. Still, the least can prevent any vulnerable activity by blocking the internet on the target Android cell phone.
Conclusion:
All these stats stated by cybercrime law enforcement experts are alarming for parents, and they have to take some steps to protect their children from all online predators. Parents can use an Android monitoring app to keep a sneaky eye on their children to protect them fully.
