How to Identify and Avoid Predators

Many Internet experts believe that a child is quite likely to run into predators on the Internet at some point before he turns 18 years old. It doesn't matter whether the child is male or female, predators of all walks of life are waiting for a child to have a weak moment and latch on to them. Awareness will help your child avoid these dangerous predators.

Instructions

1. Watch for someone who chats with you out of the blue. While not everyone who starts chatting with you online is a predator, many of them are. If you don't know who the person is, this is the first sign that it may be a predator.

2. Look for chat conversations that get overly personal. Normal chat room conversations should be just like a conversation you would have face-to-face. When someone you don't know asks where you live or go to school, this person may be a predator.

3. Monitor conversations for talk of a sexual nature. Predators often want to turn the conversation to sex quickly. If they get an idea that you are sexually active, they will latch on to that and ask about your past experiences.

4. Stop chatting with the person immediately, if you believe the person you're chatting with is a predator. Do not believe that you can handle any conversation that comes your way; these people are extremely dangerous and manipulative.

5. Block predators from having the ability to chat with you. Predators will look for you every time you're online, unless you block them from all communication. Be aware that predators will also create new screen names to start chatting with you again. So you may have to block several screen names as time goes on.

6. Report the predators to an adult. This is especially important, if the person has personal information about you. Adults can help you avoid predators by determining the proper technological and legal steps that may be necessary for the situation.