Warning for your kids using face book
 

Hi all....

Im spreading the word to all mums and dads out there that allow their kids to use facebook.

... Last night my daughter ( 14yrs old ) told me she was online with Megan Gail. I didnt think much of it at the time because I know face book allows emails e.t.c. to celebrities.

It wasnt until 10 minutes later my daughter told me that she was going to meet Megan tomorrow. And that Megan thought she was beatiful.

Straight out I new something wasnt right.

I went and read all the previouse messages they had sent to each other - and found out my daughter had given out her full name, full adress, where her school was, and her phone number.

I messaged ''Megan'' and said that I had her i.p adress and that I was going to call the police.

Within minutes her profile, contact details and messages were deleted.

This was obviously some sicko pervert, that managed to get all our home details and phone numbers within minutes.

.... So my advice is to really explain to your children that these sort of people exist. And dont be so complasent as I was.

why do 14 year olds go on websites that are meant for adults?

How frightening for you as a family. Thank goodness you were on the ball and I wonder how many parents are unaware about what is happening in their homes. Facebook is a scary place for the unwary, foolish and those under the influence of substances! :help People happily tell all and sundry the entire contents of their personal lives and intimate details - no wonder it is a feeding ground for stalkers.

To those unaware:

As of May 3, there is a new privacy setting on Facebook called "Instant Personalization Pilot Program" that shares data with non-Facebook websites. It is automatically set to "Allow."

Go to Account > Privacy Settings > Applications and Websites > Instant Personalization, and uncheck "Allow".

Cheers
GT

No offense but your child doesnt seem too bright...

Facebook is huge amongst kids... Some pretty dodgey groups on there too, still can't work out what the interest is in some of the groups!
People seem to think it's safe to post anything too, I've seen first had 3 people get the sack from things posted on fb...

Offence Taken...

There are 80 year olds giving their bank details to people over the net every day and loosing their life savings. So it can happen to anyone.

I may have been nieve before now, so thats why im letting others know now how easily it can happen.

STANI: you obviously dont have teenage girls!

I would say she acted like most other 14 year olds .... unless you think you are a smarter than average 14 year old? Ans yes .... of course I am sure there are bloody heaps of 14 year olds with face book accounts. Ignorant statements being made.

Fair and reasonable warning and absolutely no need to make stupid and ignorant judgments.



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He's been warned and given a 24 hour break for his further education.

Regards
Russ

I got teenage sisters that dont belong on facebook that get pedo stalkers talkin to them all the time

Facebook is quite popular amongst the youngins, plus it makes it way easier for me to keep in contact with friends after I left school, and became a fine tax payer.

I hate facebook! Another stupid fad and one I wish would die.
If i had a daughter and a similar situation had occurred, I'd have gone along with her to meet "Megan gale" and probably done my nut. Failing that, I'm sure getting the sickos details and Contacting the police would be a good option too. People who prey on the young deserve nothing less than severe pain. Constantly.
Facebook and myspace and so on do nothing more than help these deviants find new victims. We all know what happened with Carly Ryan.

IH8HSV glad you jumped soon enough....being a father of 3kids old school morals but working hard learning modern skills for peace of mind I still believe fb etc are evil......
Call me narrow minded but having some IT geek friends especially in companys I do business with their human resources know how to check peoples profiles etc and as 4Vman mentions be it new job applicants or checking on staff its a fine edged sword nowadays.
I can't understand people putting in their full daily diaries,pics of family etc for anybody to see, yes some say its all communicating nowadays but I say BS sorry !
This will come back and bite people if not already to many.

I'm glad my first 2 - boys arn't that active with this BS, more PS,XBox etc but my friends yes daughters my god they have to unplug the modems nowadays !
My 3rd yes daughter and I'm sure I'm going to have fights over it but stuff it I'll cop it.
Soon enough there will be more bad news storeys and that will be good ammunition to use as an argument.

Good luck.

On the internet you have no idea who is behind the keyboard as it has been made clear with this case.

I feel for your daughter IH8HSV but she has learnt a very valuable lesson. Lucky she has a dad who caught on to what was going on in time. I am sure there are probably kids out there that have been in a similiar situation and have not been so lucky.

What a sad world we live in.

IH8HSV - I don't envy you one little bit, having a teenage daughter. I dread the day when my two young ones hit puberty. I hope that I bring them up in a way where they'll both keep me in the loop as to what they're doing and who they're seeing. It's not common these days for the kids to keep their olds in the know. It appears you guys have the communication needed to avert what could've been a tragedy.

Maybe calling the police and getting them to stake out the meeting place, would've been another option. But definately forward the ip address and any other info/logs you have. Hopefully it's some paedophile on parole who'll end up back inside as a result of this action.

There's a good chance I wouldn't think so calmly if I was in your situation and gone there myself...

I feel for you..... I have banned both my son & daughter from Facebook and filter out most stuff still on the net.... I hate facebook and myspace..... Like they say the more freinds on facebook or myspace you have, the less REAL freinds you have time for...

It really is just that easy for them to get to out kids these days.
I am constantly amazed at some of the pics and alikes that some of my mates
younger female family members have up on there.
Glad you got onto this on time. I must say that I myself would have prob gone to meet
"Megan" and beaten the snot out of the sicko freak.

Another example that shows that the supposed internet filter won't work, unless they block Facebook too. It's supposed to protect the children, but wouldn't stop these sorts of things from happening. Scrap the filter and ramp up educating the parents and children!

Sorry this has happened IH8HSV and it is a sad fact of life that there are people out there who prey on little children, but I hope you'll be paying more attention to what your daughter is doing online from now on. It's the only way to protect them properly.

Are you for real?
There are more pre 21's then there are post 21. At least that is what I have noticed. Kids that can't even type have a profile!

Facebook is a great communication tool and a medium to get incontact with people who you had lost contact with. I have re-located many old friend which time had lost.

To hate FB is to be nieve, IMO.

The trap is that there are real celebraties out there and it is cool to keep a track on you idols, etc. However sicko's can keep track of your kids if you don't pay attention.

One thing I think parents need to do is allow progressive monitored net access... As well as educate them on the traps. Many parents are simply unaware of what these kids know and do on the net.

Agree 100% 4Vman

We allow our 8 yr old get on the net but at the moment one of us sit with her

To the OP i would be reporting it to the police asap as well as giving them all info as to where the meet point was ect

We all hope as parents that our kids will never give out the personal info but you cant be there 100% of the time at least she told you about it . that tells me you have instilled a great trust into your daughter and for that i applaude you

Jason

facebook was requested to add
this privacy function but from what I have heard about it's not that well advertised on their site

They were requested to have the privacy control on each page but they refused, shows how much they care :(

i hope you dont mind but i have copied this into my status on facebook as i have friend that have there kids on there.

i reckon you should've played along and called the police to meet up with this Megan, might've taken another bit of scum off the street.

As a parent myself, I would also let the school now what happened because who ever the freak was now know's where it is ...

Kids will be kids and don't see the world how adults do ...

So glad you were on to it quick enough & good luck with it all ...

Thankfully you were smart enough to stop anything from happening IH8HSV.

Here is hoping you made sure your daughter is aware at how close to a life changing situations she was.

All the best to you both.

On a slightly off topic and non p/c matter, would of been great to arrange a meet up and have someone belt the living poo out of the guy.

Those types of people are the true scum of this earth

I agree with your immediate reaction. Its easy for us to sit back now and say what you "should" or "could" of done. I hope you have explained to your daughter excatly who this type of bloke is and what could have happened.

Well done in avoiding a possibly nasty situation.

I hope you don't mind, I also put it on my FB status & have had many comments already ... As many of my friends have kids with a FB account ... most play the games just like my son does, but I monitor every thing he does ...
Safety must come 1st ...
I forgot to put the k - for know not now oops ...

Nah we just need Conroy's little compulsory filter, that will stop all this kind of thing. [/sarcasm]

Agree with your statement 100%. If I had kids, they wouldn't be on the net without me watching their every move.

I knew someone who had a 9ish year old boy who was into video games. He knew I was into games too, and he started asking me stuff about a certain violent game, I was like "how do you know this, you shouldn't be playing that!". His mother turned to me and said "he probably saw it on youtube, he looks up videos of all the games on there". I was mortified. No wonder games that are made for and marketed towards adults are getting banned for being "unsafe to children". If he was my kid there would be no way he'd be on the net watching those videos!!!

I'm glad you managed to intervene when you did.

Thanks for the heads up, as for the statement made above you obliviously do not have kids.
I took offence to that comment.
Kids are very trusting and this is why this type of web site is so dangerous.

Kev (father of 3)

I think kids should be able to choose what's right for them up to a certain point...and be exposed to things...It's part of growing up and I think it's good in a way.

Obviously the fact that your daughter was targetted is a horrible thing for a father to find out, and it's a good thing you stopped it.
Did you give her a casual chat about what it was all about?

I bet my bottom dollar, now that she has been exposed to this, that she will recognise the situation if it ever arises again and take the appropiate action.

Despite what people think, I think that kids do know what is good for them and what they should/should not be viewing/doing on the internet...But I also think that censoring things and restricting their movements is not the right course of action...It only makes them more naive to what's going on out there.

That's my 2c at least.