About On-Line Predators*

What to do if a stranger has contacted you online:

1. KEEP EVERYTHING! Don't delete e-mails, IMs, chat

logs, etc. Place them in a separate folder on your hard

drive or diskette/zip disk, CD, DVD etc and print out a

hard copy.

2. Never respond to IMs or emails that are suggestive,

obscene, threatening, or make you feel uncomfortable.

Tell your parents or other trusted adult about

these messages. It's not your fault - remember that!

3. No matter how friendly a stranger may be online,

don't trust them completely

4. Don't let a stranger online know when you are

having a problem at school or at home - they will use

this to try to get you to trust them and tell them more

5. Never, ever meet a stranger in person, no matter

how close you feel you have gotten to them online.

Someone claiming online to be a 15 year-old girl or

guy may be a 40 year-old man. Meeting them face-to

face may be dangerous - even if you're accompanied

by friends or family.

6. Never "go private" and never accept a "private

message" if you're in a chat room

7. If you feel you can't tell your parents or another

trusted adult, contact WHOA-KTD for help at

haltabusektd.org

Use Cyber Street-Smarts

•  Use a free e-mail account such as Hotmail

(www.hotmail.com) or YAHOO! (www.yahoo.com)

for boards, blogs, chat rooms, IMs, e-mails from

strangers, and other online activities

• Don't give your primary e-mail address to anyone you

do not know or trust (see above)

• Never give out your real name, age, address or phone

number online without permission

• Never give out your password to anyone, even your

best friend & make sure it's not an easy password for

someone to figure out (like your pet's name, your

birthday, your zip code)

• Don't put too much information in your profile,

especially your name, age, where you live, your school,

where you work part-time or anything that can be used

by online predators

• Tell your parents or teachers immediately if you are

concerned about one of your friends arranging a face to-

face meeting with a stranger they met online. Your

friend's safety could be at risk.

• Make sure any photos you post online are not of you

in a bathing suit, cropped shirt, low-cut top or anything

that would be considered "sexy"

• Block or ignore unwanted users in chat or IM. Check

out what options/preferences are available and take

advantage of the "Block all users except those on my

buddy list" or adding unwanted usernames to an Ignore

list in chat. If anyone bothers you and won't go away,

put them on block or ignore. You're not being rude,

you're being safe.

• For more online safety tips, go to

haltabusektd.org/resources/online.shtml

*Information used with permission from http://www.haltabusektd.org/