(From FBI's "A Parent's Guide To Internet Safety")
Your child may be at risk online if:
He/she spends large amounts of time on-line, especially at night
The greatest risk is during the evening hours. Offenders are on-line around the clock, but most work
during the day and spend their evenings on-line trying to locate and lure children or seeking pornography. Chat rooms can pose a particular danger.
You find pornography on your child's computer
Pornography is often used in the sexual victimization of children. Sex offenders often give their potential victims
pornography as a means of opening sexual discussions and for seduction.
Your child receives phone calls from men you don't know or is making calls to numbers
you don't recognize
While talking to a child victim on-line is a thrill for a computer-sex offender, it can be very
cumbersome. Most want to talk to the children on the telephone. They often engage in "phone
sex" with the children and often want to set up an actual meeting.Some
computer-sex offenders have toll-free numbers, so that their potential victims
can call them without their parents finding out. Others tell the child to call collect. Both of
these methods, plus caller i.d., result in the computer-sex offender being able to find out the child's phone number.
Your child receives mail, gifts, or packages from someone you don't know
Computer sex offenders often give these things to their potential victims.
Your child turns the computer monitor off or quickly changes the screen when you come into the
room.
Your child becomes withdrawn from the family
Offenders try to drive a wedge between the victim and family members. Children may become withdrawn after sexual victimization.
Your child is using an on-line account belonging to someone else
Even if you do not have internet access, your child may get access at the library or a friend's house.
