How to safely chat online
Some groups are at danger more than others when it comes to online chat. For example young children are often targeted by child molesters and online predators, seeking to find their victims online. If you are very young, we advise to stay away from public chat rooms and only chat to well known people from your buddy list via instant messaging.
Online chat can be fun: But beware of online predators and child molesters
If you are an adult, you are still at risk of meeting someone not as friendly as they may seem at first "sight". Your party may be simply lying to you and may have bad intentions.
You want to pay special attention to the questions that are asking: if they are concentrating on your appearance they are likely to want to meet you for sex. Be careful and watch the information about yourself that you are giving online, because they may use it against you or even exploit your personal information for conducting crime.
These are simple steps to follow in order to protect yourself from evil people in chat rooms:
- Pay attention to the way others approach you while in a chat room. If they start their chat session asking questions about your appearance, residence and martial status then they are trying to find out about you as much as they can to possibly exploit you in some way. Stay away from such conversations and do not reply to any requests for personal or sensitive information.
- Use common sense and stay cautious at all times. Perhaps your party wants to gain your trust by talking about your childhood, music and movies. In real life, this could be the start of a friendship. But in the online world you must constantly look for the warning signs: if they start asking for personal facts about you, you should withdraw from the conversation immediately.
- You are advised to never send your pictures to anyone on the Internet.
- Avoid sexual language. Avoid getting involved in a conversation that involves sexual matters.
- If someone uses cyber-violence, violent or racist language, leave the chat immediately.
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