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Internet Safety: How predators work
Many predators, who are searching for children and teens to rape, kidnap or harm, now use the Internet to find victims. Predators communicate through chat rooms and instant messaging seeking to develop relationships with young people. They want their trust. When a trust forms, they ask to meet somewhere to check out a movie, window shop or get something to eat. Typically, a predator does all this while posing as a young adult or teenager.
Cyber predators are tough to spot. Who are cyber predators? Not who you think.
>> They are likely to have above average intelligence and income
>> They may have a successful career
>> They may be married with children of their own
>> They may have no criminal history or none related to sex crimes
>> Most are male (99%), non-Hispanic, white (91%) and older than 26 (86%)
>> They may be perceived as “the last person you would expect to be a predator”
Janis Wolak, Kimberly Mitchell, and David Finkelhor, Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later (2006).
Crimes Against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire.
Cyber predators are tough to spot. Who are cyber predators? Not who you think.
>> They are likely to have above average intelligence and income
>> They may have a successful career
>> They may be married with children of their own
>> They may have no criminal history or none related to sex crimes
>> Most are male (99%), non-Hispanic, white (91%) and older than 26 (86%)
>> They may be perceived as “the last person you would expect to be a predator”
Janis Wolak, Kimberly Mitchell, and David Finkelhor, Online Victimization of Youth: Five Years Later (2006).
Crimes Against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire.
