On-Line Safety How do we really Know? The things that you think you know but you may have no idea about!

Some of the facts to be aware of: Sexual offending is up 40% on last year in Essex and 35% Nationally The main group of children to be targeted are girls aged 7-12 years and boys aged 11-15 years. Most sex offences against children are routed in online access to indecent images of children. The age of children who are indicating that they are accessing inappropriate apps and websites and posting videos and images of themselves is constantly dropping. There has been a significant increase in the number of reports of children being exploited and incited into doing indecent things on-line. The age of children being targeted is decreasing because of younger children now having access to tablets and mobile phones-especially those which enable geographic location identification

What do you imagine? What do you think a typical Paedophile looks like? What do you think intices children into going off with a stranger? What do you think children would say? Children live a completely different life to the one that we led…playing out…watershed on TV. We teach children Stranger-Danger when they are out and about but do we really know what strangers they are encountering on apps and websites they could be accessing. I’d like to share a short video with you…

Musical.ly…most popular app…highly dangerous Number one app in the world at present that Paedophiles are using to target young children. At the very least the explicit content of songs that children could be listening to is deeply alarming. Do you know exactly what your child is listening to? 2 Johns were at a school recently asked 280 aged Years 3-6 about this app…95% of children said they have either got it downloaded or they see it on a friends device. Of these 95% of children every single one of them had received a rude message. NONE OF THEM HAD TOLD THEIR PARENTS! The app exploits children’s desire to be famous by encouraging them to lyp sync to a song and then upload it to the website. The Privacy settings are Key with this app. Children won’t want the privacy settings put on however because the want to be a famous You-Tuber. They want to be popular and to get lots of likes on their post. What happens next however is highly concerning…

Live.ly…app linked to Musical.ly Paedophiles are screen shotting videos on Musically and posting them to You Tube. These have an id at the top which is visible to everyone. The children then become targeted with new ‘friends’ on Musical.ly. Livel.ly is linked to Musical.ly. It is an app which allows live streaming. The app allows children to see how many followers they have at any time and then any followers can comment immediately on what they are seeing. Hearts are awarded for what can be seen on the screen and there is a present icon This present at the bottom of the screen is where watchers can give online rewards to the best things they see. Children think this is marvellous because it is feeding their need to become famous You Tubers-this is particularly targeting girls and vulnerable children. 12 children only last week on this app-10 in school uniform and the other 2…?

Exploiting children…how is this happening? These videos are screen shotted and then may be posted on You-tube or saved to another site for sharing within the paedophile community. These videos then could possibly be put together into a compilation. Even more concerning Paedophiles are then contacting children at a later point and are threatening to contact parents or the school. Children are responding as we have taught them…threatening to report these paedophiles. They are then threatening to come around to the child’s house/school. Children then have the potential to be exploited. When asked how many children said that their parents knew about this app-they all said none of them did. Incident with 9 year old girl… Access to on line rewards and app currency is also very concerning. Paedophiles are also buying things for children on-line…Movie Star Planet and Club Penguin

Other apps to be concerned about. Omegle-very concerning app as it allows dual viewing. Whisper-encourages children to post their worries on line and to ask for advice. Movie Star Planet Roblox Club Penguin Twitch A word about Selfies and zero gravity Selfies-becoming increasing risky in their content.

GTA, COD and other games You may not allow games such as GTA and COD in your house. I was horrified to learn that you can watch clips of these games on You Tube. I watched something so completely horrendous that I can’t show it to you. This was watched by a Year 3 child.

Summary of the main concerns… Children not telling their parents what they are watching are listening to. Children not telling children if they are receiving a rude message…almost being treated as ‘the norm’. Sleepovers…girls in particular accessing inappropriate images because they think it is ‘cool’ and funny-Omegle. Children taking on dares-or doing quizzes and egging each other on to be the coolest/most popular. Children trying to earn on line currency-being bought things by ‘friends’ on the internet. SKYPE accounts and locations on photos. Paedophiles being able to pinpoint the locations of children. The impact on relationships between parents and children.

What can we do? The worst thing to do is to remove the device or delete the app. Don’t tell a child off for telling you about something if they have been accessing an inappropriate site. Encourage dialogue with your child and regular monitoring. Make sure privacy settings are at their highest-this won’t stop explicit music. Supervise sleepovers. Agree together with other parents what is suitable viewing material. Ask to listen to music on your child’s device. Tell your child about Childline. Tell us and we will try to help.

Virtual is Their Reality! YOUR CHILD… Virtual is Their Reality!