10 Things Parents Can Do About the Dangers of “Sexting”

03/16/2016

10 Things Parents Can Do About the Dangers of "Sexting"

1. Talk with your child about the potential dangers of Internet activities. Tell them you have a responsibility to monitor their Internet use and will check their accounts periodically.

2. Spend time with your child on-line. Have them teach you about their favorite web sites.

3. Keep the computer or cellphones in a common room in your home, and set time limits for its use.

4. Utilize parental controls provided by your service provider and/or blocking software. Make sure they know what sites they are not allowed to visit.

5. Always maintain access to your child's online account and randomly check his/her email. This means that you must have your child's password. Do not allow them to have multiple email accounts. Be up front with your child about your access and reasons why.

6. Install an operating system that makes you the administrator of the family computer. This allows you to set what content can be viewed online, and software that can be installed.

7. Tell your children to let you know immediately if a stranger tries to make contact with them on the Web.

8. Make sure your child knows what online activities are against the law. Illegal activities include making threats against someone else online, hacking, downloading pirated software, creating bootlegged software, sharing music files online, and for children under age 18, making online purchases.

9. Go online with your kids and find out who they send Instant Messages to and/or chat with. Do not allow your children to send Instant Messages during homework-related computer time.

10. Instruct your children:

a. To never arrange a face-to-face meeting with someone they met online. DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS.

b. To never upload or post pictures of themselves onto the Internet or on-line service to people they do not personally know

c. To never give out identifying information such as their name, home address,

school name, telephone number or birth date.

d. To never download pictures from an unknown source, as there is a good chance there could be sexually explicit images

e. To never respond to messages or bulletin board postings that are suggestive, obscene, belligerent, or harassing

f. That whatever they are told on-line may or may not be true.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT HUMAN TRAFFICKING BUREAU

Human Trafficking Bureau detectives have investigated numerous sextortion cases in the past several years. There are several patterns that these cases follow.

An ex-boyfriend/girlfriend posts images out of anger

A friend passes images around school to others

A predator assumes the identity of another to get images

After getting the original images the suspect extorts the victim into sending more explicit images and videos under threat that they will expose the victim's photos to their friends and families.

Case Examples

A 19 year old man would initiate contact with random girls on Facebook and ask them if they wanted to be Facebook Famous. He was very polite and respectful, he told the

girls he was Facebook Famous and he wouldn't expose them. He would make them feel special to get them to send pictures to him. After the girls sent pictures of their breasts to him with the word "boobies" written on them he would threaten to tell their parents and friends what they were doing if they did not continue to send him ever more graphic pictures and videos. After being caught by the HTB detectives the suspect said he did not think his actions were a big deal because he never exposed any of the girls to their family or friends. He also admitted that he would send some of the nude pictures to other girls as examples of what he wanted. Investigators found over 25,000 images and 21 victims. Several of the girl who were victims said that they were suicidal over the ongoing extortion from the suspect.

A father found a video of his 11 year old son on his iPad of him doing sexual acts. When asked "why" the victim said he was threatened by a person he met on-line. The suspect posed as a 14 year old girl and talked to the victim like a regular kid. Eventually the "girl" asked the victim to exchange nude images, to which he complied. After exchanging several images the "girl" threatened to expose him to his family and friends unless he did some additional sexual acts. The victim, feeling desperate, complied and sent the video to the "girl". That is when the father found the video and contacted the Human Trafficking Bureau. The team conducted their investigation and discovered that the "girl" was actually a 20 year old man living in another state. Detectives went to that state, interviewed the suspect, arrested him and recovered his electronic devices which corroborated the victim's story. Found on the devices was hundreds of additional images and videos from children around the country.

All Information Provided By

Los Angeles County Sheriff s Department

Human Trafficking Bureau

Captain Merrill Ladenheim

4700 Ramona Boulevard

Monterey Park, CA 91754-2169