Keeping your child safe is becoming increasingly difficult. Predators are not only prowling the streets, but they are also just as active, and even more vicious, online.
Adolescents are not aware of the dangers lurking around the corner. They think their parents are overreacting; however, fact of the matter is, criminals operate in sneaky ways, and the naïve kids are unable to catch them.
One such crime that is becoming increasingly common is cyberstalking. It refers to the use of technology, including emails, social media, chatting applications, SMS, to contact someone and harass them.
It instills fears inside the mind of the adolescent being cyberstalked, which may not only jeopardize their mental health but their physical wellbeing as well, meriting a visit then to the Best Child specialist in Lahore then.
MO of cyberstalkers
There are certain commonly used tactics by the stalkers. Naturally, most cyberstalkers create fake profiles, often using innocuous pictures and names to appear friendly.
They might contact you from multiple channels. Stalkers are mostly persistent in their pursuit. While some try to lure their victims by appearing friendly on the outside, others might use lewd language for to harass their victim.
Moreover, these stalkers also may use some ammunition like messages or picture to blackmail their victims. They may also threaten their victims, especially saying that they will ‘leak’ the pictures on the internet and make them go viral.
Some stalkers use a tactic known as catfishing, which is luring people into a fake relationship. This is very dangerous, as your teenager might not be very careful, and befriend such people. It becomes even more alarming when they actually share information with the stalker, perceiving them to be their friend.
Some stalkers try to hack into the profiles, and gather the private information and material. Identify theft is also common practice, and the material gathered might be used for nefarious designs.
Another MO of the stalkers is fishing for information so they can steal bank account and other prudent information.
Preventing cyberstalking
Since teenagers are becoming more and more reliant on social media, and the multitudes of platforms that have emerged, parents need to be extra careful. Some ways to protect your child from cyberstalking include:
Talk to them
Don’t treat your children like babies; they need to know the implications of their actions. You child should know they are not supposed to talk to strangers even when online, not add people to their social media without authenticating.
They also need to know not everything is supposed to be plastered to the social media; keep your private life, private.
Moreover, while sparing the details, tell your child how cyberstalkers carry out different criminal activities so that your child understands the gravity of the situation.
Check the settings
Make sure that you teach your child how to set the privacy setting. It may make you unpopular for a while, but you need to sit with them and make sure that all their accounts are secure.
Also, inculcate in them the habit of logging out; even if your device is stolen, your security should not be breached then. You can visit here to know about the abovethenews. On the other hand, you can also get more essential info on dbfile. Here is the best news portal thoughtco where you can get the latest news around the world.
Do not volunteer information
Make sure that your child knows that they do not have to share the information, just because the bio section makes suggestions. People do not need to know where you live. It is okay to leave things be!
Get help
Unless cyberstalkers are not criminally charged, they will continue to abuse and harass people. Therefore, if your child is being cyberstalked, you need to report to it to the respective authorities.
Moreover, make sure that your child’s mental and physical health are not suffering from this traumatic experience. A good practice would be taking them to the Best Child specialist in Islamabad so that they get expert evaluation.
