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  Geebo 9:00 am on December 20, 2023 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: child safety, child safety kit ( 2 ), identity theft ( 96 ), Scams ( 1,222 )   

  Child safety kits can actually put your child at risk 

  

  By Greg Collier

  If you’re not acquainted with child safety kits, they serve as a means of compiling essential identifying information about your child in the unfortunate event that they go missing. These kits enable parents to promptly provide investigators with the necessary details to aid in locating their child. The information typically includes a DNA sample, such as strands of hair, recent photographs, and fingerprints, among other pertinent details. Numerous child safety organizations, such as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), collaborate with local law enforcement to offer these kits to parents free of charge. Alternatively, you have the option to create your own kits at home, though it is advisable to have your children professionally fingerprinted by your local police.

  Regrettably, scammers may exploit a parent’s anxieties by attempting to peddle fake kits. These deceptive kits are essentially schemes designed to pilfer your child’s personal information for the purpose of identity theft.

  Families in Texas were recently targeted in just such a scam. During a Christmas parade, a man was approaching families and asking for their address and phone number to receive a free child safety kit. The man allegedly clammed to be associated with the local police department. When the man called the families for more information, some of the families caught on that this was a scam after being asked deeply personal information about their children.

  Children’s personal information is highly sought by identity thieves. With a child’s Social Security number, identity thieves can open many lines of credit or take out loans in the child’s name. These transgressions may not even be noticed until the child turns 18.

  To safeguard your child’s identity, exercise caution when sharing their information. Consider refraining from disclosing every detail of their lives on social media platforms. Additionally, it is advisable to routinely monitor their credit history. If you discover that your child’s identity has been stolen, it’s imperative to take swift action by freezing your child’s credit history. Freezing the credit will restrict unauthorized access to their financial information and help prevent further fraudulent activities. Contact the credit bureaus and follow their procedures to initiate a credit freeze for your child, adding an extra layer of protection against potential identity theft. Additionally, consider reporting the incident to the appropriate authorities and working closely with them to rectify the situation.

   

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  Geebo 9:00 am on March 1, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: child safety, child safety kit ( 2 ), identity theft ( 96 ), Scams ( 1,222 ), social media ( 73 )   

  Child safety kit scam returns to social media 

  

  By Greg Collier

  The Indiana State Police have received complaints about a scam circulating on social media. The scam involves the advertising of child safety kits. If you’re not familiar with child safety kits, they are a way of gathering your child’s identifying information in case the unthinkable happens, and they go missing. These kits allow parents to quickly give investigators the information needed to help find their child. This includes a DNA sample such as strands of hair, recent photos, and fingerprints among other information. Many child safety organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) partner with local law enforcement to provide these kits free to parents. You can even make your own kits at home, although you may want to have your children professionally fingerprinted by your local police.

  Unfortunately, scammers will try to prey on a parent’s fears to ‘sell’ phony kits. These phony kits are really just attempts to steal your child’s personal information to use for identity theft. In Indiana, the State Police there are saying that after some parents clicked on the social media ad for one of these kits, they received phone calls from aggressive people who wanted to come to the parent’s home to install an app on the parent’s phone. When you’re trying to protect your child’s safety, the last thing you need is an aggressive stranger in your home seeking your child’s information. While the report doesn’t state what the app’s real purpose is, one can safely assume that the app either steals your child’s information when you enter it, or installs malware to your device.

  The purpose of keeping your child’s information at hand is so that you can provide it to law enforcement quickly as possible if need be. Providing that information to a third party only delays giving the information to police.

  In identity theft, there is a huge market for children’s information including their Social Security numbers. This way a scammer can use the information to build up credit years before the parents or the child would notice.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on October 28, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: child safety, identity theft ( 96 ), Scams ( 1,222 )   

  Some child safety kits can put your family in danger 

  

  Child safety kits are probably the last thing any parent wants to buy but are invaluable if your child were to disappear. You can either purchase one or make one of your own. What you would need is a current picture of your child, a record of their current weight and height, their fingerprints, and a sample of their DNA like a few strands of their hair. You would then keep these items in a safe but easy to remember place in your home in case you have to give these items to investigators.

  Leave it to scammers though to use the fear of losing your child to try to steal your identity. If you are ever solicited to get a kit by phone, email, or text, there’s a high probability that you’re being approached by a scammer. Police in Omaha, Nebraska are warning residents there about a current child safety kit scam where the scammers are asking for personal information like a Social Security number. Some scammers are even asking to meet the child in your home in an attempt to get you or your child into revealing sensitive information. According to the Omaha police, some of the scammers are claiming that they represent companies that will store the items and information for you. No legitimate child safety kit will ever ask you to do this as time is of the essence when a child goes missing.

  As we have stated in a previous post, there is a huge market for the stolen identities of children. That’s because children have no credit histories and scammers can use them as blank slates. The identity thieves will slowly build up credit under your child’s name for years before finally building up enough credit to cash out on a big score like a loan or high balance credit card. Your children could then have a ruined credit score before they even get a chance to use it.

  So if you receive an unsolicited offer for a child safety kit, politely decline the offer. If you don’t currently have a child safety kit, please thinking about making one for your children.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on March 12, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: child safety, cybersecurity ( 34 ), Idaho ( 3 ), social media ( 73 ), TikTok ( 9 )   

  Scary scammer targets 10-year-old on TikTok 

  

  Children love social media. If they’re not messaging their friends they’re either interacting with celebrities and personalities or even creating their own content. One of the most popular social media apps among children is TikTok. It allows its users to create short videos or they can follow and watch the videos of other creators. As with most social media, users can interact with each other through comments and messages. If these interactions are not monitored it could lead to inappropriate contact and other potentially dangerous situations.

  A 10-year-old girl from Idaho was on TikTok and was recently contacted by a stranger through the app. The person who contacted her said they were looking for a ‘sugar baby’ that they could spoil with gifts and money. While this sounds like the actions of an online predator’s attempt to groom a child, this interaction took a different turn. The person who approached the girl said that in order to ‘spoil’ the girl they would need her parents’ ATM and bank card information. Thankfully, the girl was smart enough to tell her parents about the messages who in turn called local police. However, the alleged scammer could be from anywhere and no apprehension has been made and the suspect may never be caught.

  [youtube https://youtu.be/jqTn90l7urI%5D

  While most children love apps like TokTok that doesn’t mean they should be on them unattended. Most platforms including TikTok set the minimum age of users to 13 in their terms of service. Even if children meet the minimum age requirement that still shouldn’t mean they can be left on any social platform without having some form of monitoring. A good rule in helping keep children safe online is to instill a no devices after bedtime rule. If your children are using iPhones or iPads, iOS has parental controls that you can learn to use here. If your children are on Android phones and tablets parental control instructions can be found here. You can also find tips and tricks to keep your children safe online at the US Attorney’s Office website and NetSmartz.org.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on August 8, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Ask.fm, Badoo, Bumble, Calculator%, child safety, Grindr, Holla, Hot or Not, Kik, LiveMe, MeetMe, Skout, Snapchat ( 13 ), social media ( 73 ), TikTok ( 9 ), Whatsapp ( 3 ), Whisper   

  The truth behind dangerous apps for kids 

  

  In Sarasota County, Florida, the local Sheriff’s Office arrested 25 men accused of approaching children through various social media apps. These arrests have spurred a number of media outlets to list the 15 most dangerous social media apps and platforms for children. These apps include Ask.fm, Badoo, Bumble, Calculator%, Grindr, Holla, Hot or Not, Kik, LiveMe, MeetMe, Skout, SnapChat, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Whisper. Is the media exaggerating the danger or are these apps really dangerous for kids? We’re about to give you the lowdown on these apps and tell you what you can do to protect your kids.

  The majority of the apps listed are dating apps. Any child under 18 has no business being in Badoo, Bumble, Grindr, Hot or Not, MeetMe, or Skout. Other apps on this list are livestreaming or video apps like Holla, TikTok, Snapchat, and LiveMe. While these apps allow users as young as 13 to register for their service, these apps should not be used unsupervised by children as predators have used them to either approach or groom children. Apps like Kik, Whisper, and WhatsApp are messaging apps which can be used like text messages. The problem with these apps is that predators like to move kids to these apps after approaching them on other apps so they can continue to communicate with them.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgTM0ymYZGI%5D

  While all of these apps are potentially dangerous there are, in our opinion, two apps which are extremely dangerous to children and they are Snapchat and Kik. Snapchat is the photo-sharing app where the photos are supposed to disappear after a set amount of time, however, it’s fairly easy for someone to take a screenshot of the photo being shared. Meanwhile, Kik is the messaging app that is a tool of choice among predators with one registered sex offender calling it “well known within their industry”.

  If you would prefer that your kids not use these apps there is something you can do about it. If your kids are using iPhones or iPads, iOS has parental controls that you can learn to use here. If your kids are on Android phones and tablets parental control instructions can be found here. Also, keep in mind that not all devices need a cellular data connection for predators to approach your kids. Many of these apps can be used on a wifi connection alone so keep that in mind when deciding how best to protect your children.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 25, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: child safety, Human trafficking ( 96 ), Massachussetts ( 3 ), Snapchat ( 13 )   

  Will traffickers lure your kids on Snapchat? 

  

  Within the past few days, there has been a rumor surrounding the photo-sharing app Snpachat. The rumor that’s been circulating mainly on Facebook claims that there is a sex trafficking ring operating in Lawrence, Massachusetts that recruits young girls over Snapchat. The rumor purports that strangers are adding your kids as friends on Snapchat and once they do that the traffickers are able to ascertain your child’s location and potentially kidnap them. However, according to the Lawrence Police, there is no such trafficking ring operating in Lawrence and fact-checking site Snopes says the rumor is gaining ground due to a misunderstanding about how Snapchat works.

  Snapchat does have a feature where friends can see each other’s location if both friends agree to enable the feature called Snap Map. But if one of the users does not enable Snap Map their location cannot be found. It’s not an automatic thing that turns on once you accept somebody’s friend request.

  [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q-gjHtttGQ%5D

  Now while there is not currently a sex trafficking ring in Lawrence, that doesn’t mean that traffickers don’t use social media to approach children. In typical cases, traffickers will target children who are having problems at home or have run away in the past. In many instances, those children will have exhibited some evidence on their social media accounts. This allows traffickers to start grooming them by telling them how they understand the child better than the child’s parents do. In some other cases, the traffickers will promise kids from low-income areas with promises of fame and money and convince the child to run away.

  This could happen on any social media platform and not just Snapchat. These grooming techniques are not a new thing and were even used in the MySpace days. One of the best ways to protect your kids from traffickers and other online predators is to talk with them about how these predators operate and how most strangers online probably want something inappropriate from them. Another good way is to keep tabs on the apps your children may use and who is on their friends list. If it’s somebody that they’ve never met in person that you don’t know it’s a good idea to have them remove that person from their contacts. Lastly, you may want to consider holding on to all your children’s device after they go to bed in order to keep an eye on any unusual messages they may receive.

   
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  Geebo 8:00 am on April 15, 2019 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: cars ( 11 ), child safety, craigslist ( 124 ), Human trafficking ( 96 ), lyft ( 15 ), Robert Kraft ( 3 ), Safety ( 44 ), Uber ( 24 )   

  Craigslist to start charging $5 for cars, Kids in Ubers and Lyfts, and no trafficking in Robert Kraft case 

  

  What a $5 car may look like

  As of today, craigslist will start charging $5 for car listings. So as of tax day if you’re selling your car on craigslist it will cost you a fiver. While craigslist has not publicly stated the reason for the change, many speculate that the move will cut down on scam listings. It will be interesting to see if craigslist users will balk at the new fee and if scammers will be willing to pay the fee. Not to mention that it’s almost ironic that craigslist is now starting to act like so many newspaper classifieds that they helped close down.

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  KATU in Portland, Oregon is reporting on a new safety concern when it comes to using ridesharing services like Lyft and Uber. Their investigation found that many minors are using the ridesharing services even though their terms of service require a passenger to be at least 18. Some drivers will refuse the fare if they know the passenger is under 18, however, there are many drivers who either don’t know the rules or don’t care. According to KATU, some parents are even ok with their older kids using an Uber or Lyft. If you’re a parent, would you be ok with letting your kid use an Uber or Lyft alone?

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  Lastly for today, it was recently reported that the investigation that allegedly caught New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft using a massage parlor did not find any evidence of human trafficking. Critics have dismissed this investigation as a witch hunt of sorts and that police were just looking to arrest workers and johns. However, in many cases, those being trafficked are unwilling to testify against their traffickers due to fears of reprisal or threats of violence against their families. To refer to human trafficking as an overblown problem is to dismiss the safety and welfare of all those being trafficked against their will who are treated as slaves.