Online Predators

Earlier this fall, a story making headlines in Louisville, Kentucky should cause us all to wake up and pay attention to the dark side of our online social-media-saturated world. In an effort to find friendship and affirmation, our kids are prone to reinvent themselves by fabricating an online persona that isn’t even close to who they really are. At times, they will lie about their age when engaging with others online, pretending to be older than they really are. That’s what happened when a fourteen year old Kentucky girl posed as a twenty-nine year old woman online. She began corresponding with a sixty-year-old man who contacted her through her school email address. He promised to buy her a new iphone in exchange for sexual favors. They met in a Walmart parking lot. Fortunately, the man was arrested. Parents, be aware that experienced predators are actively looking online to find victims they can groom. Warn your kids, and monitor their online behavior. Your kids are vulnerable.