This page was made to help raise awareness of online predators. Included on this page are questions you can ask yourself when determining if a person you meet online is safe for you, tips to keep yourself safe online, as well as a profile of an online predator. How can I be sure if someone is unsafe for me? 1. Are you scared after being in contact with this person? 2. Do you feel uncomfortable after talking to this person? 3. Does this person insist that you are wrong for feeling uncomfortable and try to keep communication going? 4. After an inappropriate conversation, does this person tell you not to tell anyone? 5. Does this person ask for personal information about you; full name, address, phone number, where you work, and continue to ask when told no? 6. Ultimately, you have to decide who is unsafe for you. If something doesn't sit well with you, listen to your gut. How to protect yourself from unsafe people 1. Use a gender neutral screen name. 2. Keep your anonymity. Don't ever reveal personal information; full name, address, phone number, where you work, or anything that may give a clue to your real identity. Don't even mention family or friends by name. Take your time and ask lots of questions. Get a good idea of what someone is like before you give them your email address. 3. Make use of free email accounts to mask your real email address or online messages to any public forum. There are several to choose from. Hotmail, Yahoo, and Juno are a few. Keep any identifying information off from these accounts. 4. Don't communicate with anyone that tries to pressure you into giving your information. Simply ignore them. If the problem persists, report them. If you aren't sure where to report them, start with who they have their email addy through. If you can't get anywhere with them, contact the police. More and more police agencies across the country are developing cyber task forces. If they can't help, then they should be able to point you in the right direction. 5. Do lurk. (Reading messages before posting on new groups, lists, or boards to find out who is participating in a specific forum and what the temper of the forum is...before sending messages). 6. Be cautious. Don't believe everything you are told, wether in a profile, a message board, or in chat. Keep in mind anyone can post anything, including pictures that aren't theirs. 7. Watch out for people that are simply too good to be true. Watch closely for odd behavior. People may not be who they say they are. 8. Trust your gut. You are responsible to take all the time you need to make sure a person is honest and trustworthy. If your gut tells you someone is lying, they very likely are. Don't get hurt by becoming prematurely involved with someone, on any level. 9. Another potential problem are "sigs" or signatures that you can set up to appear automatically at the end of your outgoing emails. Read that file as though you were a cyber criminal. Is there anything you should change? Maybe it would be best to write a specific signature each time. 10. If anyone in this group is EVER inappropriate, in any way, tell the managers immediately. Even if you trust the person. Chances are, they have been inappropriate with others as well. Even if you think you might be overreacting, it is better to overreact than to not act at all. If nobody tells the managers, then the managers can't take action. The Online Predator Definition: One who uses cyber space to hunt people with the intention to take advantage of them in ANY way shape or form. Profile of an Online Predator 1. Liar (Self Explanatory) 2. Deceiver: His/her self situation is presented other than what it is. 3. Betrayer: He/she is likely to break trust. 4. Insecure: He/she is orried that others will be faithless. 5. Inconsistant: He/she will say one thing while doing another. 6. Lacking Honor: Usually while protesting he/she has honor. 7. Lacking Respect: He/she will tend to disrespect others. 8. Transient: He/she is unlikely to have many long term friends. 9. Manipulator: He/she calculates and contrives for his/her own benefit to the detriment of his/her victim. 10. Secretive: He/she will tend to cloak himself/herself and his/her activities. 11. Charming: If he/she couldn't steal your breath away, he/she would not be a successful hunter. 12. Selective: He/she will pick victims carefully, looking for weaknesses and filling those voids completely. 13. Chameleon: He/she will appear to fill any need perfectly and adapt to do so. 14. Lacking in Self Control: Although at times, he/she may have extraordinary self control and dicipline. Predator Warning Signals 1. "Don't tell _ _ _ _ _" 2. " _ _ _ _ _ is crazy." (Or psycho, sick a liar, or out to get me) 3. "It would be best if you no longer spoke to _ _ _ _" 4. "I do not need to defend myself against lies." 5. "They are just jealous." (Of me, of what we have, that you have me) While any of the above phrases or actions may be acceptable in a given context, pay close attention when seing them or hearing them. These are things we should pay attention to if hearing them from ourselves or others. 1. He/she is just too good to be true. 2. You are hearing consistent warnings from more than one person. 3. Your instincts or "gut" are telling you, "Something is not right about this person." 4. The final best defense anyone has against an online predator is their own judgement and common sense. We should always remember that deisres, needs, and heat of the moment can combine to drown that judgement. Always take a moment to step back, take a deep breath, and look at people we meet on the internet with common sense and nothing else.