1. What to Do?

2. Online Friends
When you make a friend online you might get to know each other enough to want to meet them in real life
This can be risky – if you feel you want to meet someone, you need to do this in a safe way

3. Meeting Safely
You can follow some steps to make sure you are safe when you want to meet an online friend in real life

4. 1. TELL Tell people where you are going and who you are meeting
You might tell a friend, a trusted adult your parents or someone you trust
Give this person details about the person you are meeting

5. 2. PUBLIC
Arrange to meet somewhere public where there are a lot of other people
This could be a local shopping centre or café

6. 3. TAKE
Take a friend with you. They can stay with you until you feel it is safe
They could stay close by or at a distance just to make sure you are ok

7. 4. KNOW
Know how to get away quickly if the person is not who they say they are
Tell the person going with you if you feel uncomfortable or want to leave for any reason

8. 5. CHECK
You can make yourself safer by checking if someone is who they say they are BEFORE you meet with them
You can do this using a video chat program like Facetime or Skype

9. Check…
Checking using video chat means you can know what a person looks like
You can check that they are who they have said they are when you have chatted to them
If they have lied to you about who they are you should not meet up with them

10. And Check Again…
If someone gets angry or upset with you when you ask to video chat with them, they might not be who they say they are.
Do not feel guilty if someone gets angry about video chatting with you.
If the person on the video chat is not who they say they are, close the chat immediately.

11. Remember…
You may not know the truth about someone you first meet online.
You can’t really know the person if you have not talked to them in real life.
You can be lied to or betrayed.

12. People can use information taken from others to gain trust and friendship
Unless you know someone in person, you don’t really know who they are on the Internet
This man pretended to be an 18 year old guy when he made friends with this girl online
Kacie Rene Woody was a typical 13-year-old girl. She was a good student, a member of the school band and liked going online. Kacie met 18 year old David Fagan in a Christian chat room for teens. She didn’t doubt his identity because the picture posted in David’s profile was of a brown hair, blue eye teenage boy. What Kacie didn’t know was that David Fagan didn’t really exist.
She was really talking to 47 year old David Fuller. He had used a photo of a nephew in his profile. Fuller was an Internet predator who had set his sights on Kacie. She made the fatal mistake of sharing personal information with him. Fuller tracked Kacie from his home in San Diego, California to the small town in Arkansas where she lived. He abducted and then killed her before committing suicide.
Predators will use information obtained from children to gain trust and friendship - When Kacie told Fuller about witnessing her mother’s death in a traffic accident, Fuller told Kacie that he had an aunt that lived in Arkansas who had also been in a traffic accident, was in a coma and expected to die soon. This is one way he established a bond of trust and friendship.
Unless you know someone in person, you don’t really know who they are on the Internet. Fuller portrayed himself as 18 years old and Kacie believed him.
Anyone is vulnerable - Kacie’s father was a police officer and she lived in small town, but once she logged onto the world wide web, she was no longer just a part of the small community she physically lived in. 12

14. Warning Signs
If someone tries to isolate you from your family or friends
Turn you against your parents
Make you keep secrets
Send inappropriate materials or talk about explicit subjects
Threaten you

15. Remember… You can meet anyone, from anywhere online!

16. Compare the Internet to a place you’re familiar with: your neighborhood In your neighborhood, some areas are safe, and some you should avoid

17. In your neighbourhood, you know. many people you meet, but you
In your neighbourhood, you know many people you meet, but you still have some rules, such as be careful about talking to strangers This is important because:

18. On the Internet, you are alone with people you don’t know, and people can be who they really are, or they can pretend to be people they are not Some people disguise how old they are, what their gender is, what their criminal record is, Or what their real intensions are

19. It's hard to know who you will. meet or what information
It's hard to know who you will meet or what information you may come across
That's why it's a good idea to be careful about where you spend time and what you do online

20. Remember…
If you have made an online friend, you need to know who they are before you should meet them in real life.
Never meet someone you don’t properly know.
Always meet in a public place and take someone you can trust along.
If you feel uncomfortable, leave right away.