online scams

Showcasing Child Talent Online Leads to Exploitation and Scams

November 11, 2022 by janettejimenez

When children and parents use online platforms to showcase talents, they open themselves up to becoming victims of exploitation and scams. Someone’s hopes and dreams can turn into their worst nightmare. It is easier than ever before to fall victim due to today’s technology. As a psychologist, Dr. Tracy Bennett saw the growing rate of online injuries and the need to educate families about online safety. Our Social Media Readiness Course helps tweens and teens avoid digital injury and optimize psychological wellness. Today’s GKIS article discusses exploitation and scams on online platforms used to showcase kids’ talents.

Parents Use Social Media to Showcase Child Talent

Kids love to be creative and show off their talents, whether it’s sports, art, singing, dancing, acting, or modeling. And for a lucky few, online branding can lead to big profits. Social media can be the perfect platform to build an audience and get the attention of professionals in that industry.

One of the most popular social media apps for showcasing talent is TikTok.[3] TikTok is one of the fastest-growing platforms where users can create a huge following and make income. It’s the most popular medium currently for showcasing talent.

Here are some methods commonly used to optimize child talent exposure

posting high-quality content regularly on social media
running advertisements
partnering with other influencers
partnering with various brands
contracting with content developers
buying likes and follows
creating custom websites[11]

The Benefits of Showcasing Talent

Showcasing children’s talents can be profitable, lead to amazing opportunities, and may help boost a child’s confidence, self-esteem, and social capital. In fact, Dr. Bennett often presents to high school students how to create a personal brand to help them showcase their strengths and qualifications for college. This webinar is offered as a live webinar for students and parents and is included in our Screen Safety Essentials Course.

The Risks of Showcasing Talent

Anytime we reveal personal information online or allow strangers to have access to us, we must be aware of risks. Big exposure can make one vulnerable to exploitation, scams, cyberbullies, and predators.

Child exploitation refers to using a child to perform or work for the benefit of others at a disservice to the child’s mental or physical health, education, or development.[1]

A scam is popularly known as a deceptive trick or a scheme used to cheat someone out of something valuable, usually money.[2]

Types of scams include:

Talent scouting scams
Charity Scams
Lottery Scams
Government Impersonation Scams
Sweepstakes Scams[12]

For more information on scams and how you can avoid them, we encourage you to read our Scammers Target the Elderly: How to Avoid Being Scammed article.

Harm That Can Occur Due to Online Exposure

Parent Pressure and Excessive Demand

Some argue that supporting your child so they can benefit from their talents and helping them achieve their dreams is the job of a parent. Others believe that kids should be allowed to be kids and that putting them to work creating a “brand” meets the needs of the parents rather than the child. We at GKIS recognize both situations exist out there.

While it can be healthy to have high expectations, applying too much pressure can be harmful. Because kids don’t have the cognitive abilities necessary to calculate the odds of success and risks involved with online exposure, some say online branding should wait until adulthood. Other risks from overdoing it include physical or cognitive injury, mental illness, self-esteem problems, academic delay, and sleep deprivation.[8]

Gaming a System Set Up for Child Protection

Another cause for concern is how many kids on social media do not meet the age requirements specified in the platforms’ terms of agreement. These terms are created for the protection of children. Unfortunately, it is hard to enforce because children easily bypass these by simply creating accounts under a false age.

Interpersonal Exploitation

Another harmful outcome of online showcasing is unsafe peers and predators communicating with your child online. For example, a father was interviewed after discovering that his seven-year-old daughter was being contacted by adults for naked pictures on TikTok.[4] This type of exploitation is a common threat that parents need to be aware of and why monitoring activity regularly is imperative. Setting parental controls can be beneficial and possible with our Screen Safety Toolkit.

Financial Exploitation

Another risk is financial exploitation with identity theft. Scammers have many ways to target children online. Scammers can open lines of credit that can go undetected for several years.[5] To read more about how to protect your family against cybercrime, read our article Child Identity Theft is on the Rise. Protect Your Family Against Cybercrime.

Red Flags to Look Out For

Before interacting with potential producers or partners, vet them online using search engines like Google and LinkedIn, professional organization credentialing, and reviewing testimonials and reviews. Avoid rushing into having your child interact with people claiming to want to work with them
Also, when your child is hired to showcase their talents, do not pay fees upfront.[9]

Also, be wary of talent opportunities where

the other party uses urgent or threatening language
appears to be too good to be true
provides suspicious attachments
makes threats of any kind
requests personal or private information
urges you to click on a link
provides information that you were not expecting[7]

How to Protect Your Family from Online Dangers

Educate Your Child and Initiate Frequent Screen Safety Conversations

To help your kids learn about red flags for online exploitation, use our free Connected Family Screen Agreement. Our Connected Family Screen Agreement is like a screen safety checklist but so much more. It informs you about the risks of digital injury and how to prevent them. Our agreement also aids in empowering your kids to teach you since they are digital natives and you’re the digital immigrant. Use it to clarify your expectations and prevent conflict while practicing critical listening and negotiating skills while having fun. With our screen agreement, you will create a living document that can be changed and renegotiated along the way.

Set Up Your Online Management Toolkit

Children are more prone than ever before to fall victim to online injury. With this in mind, psychologist Dr. Tracy Bennett has dedicated herself to perfecting products for families like yours. To help parents and families prevent digital injury, we created several online courses like the GKIS Screen Safety Toolkit for parents of kids of all ages.

Optimize Healthy Tech Use with Best Home Setup

To help you learn how to achieve screen sanity, we at GKIS have spent time creating a vital course for your entire family. Our Screen Safety Essentials Course includes parent-only videos with the information and tools you need to earn the credibility to be your go-to expert. We also include family videos, workbook pages, and colorful infographic downloads to help do the teaching and discussing with you. You also get exclusive access to Dr. Bennett’s BEST webinars. Need a little expert support? Opt for private coaching with Dr. Bennett.

Encourage Independence and Critical Problem Solving

Our GKIS Social Media Readiness Course is an awesome resource for tweens and teens. Our free GKIS Blog articles offer great ideas for screen safety discussions during a screen-free dinner.

Thanks to CSUCI intern Janette Jimenez for researching the risks of exploitation and scams when using online platforms to showcase kids’ talent and authoring this article.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Works Cited

[1] Action for the Rights of Children (ARC) chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.unhcr.org/3bb81aea4.pdf

[2] Scam Definition & Meaning https://www.dictionary.com/browse/scam#:~:text=A%20scam%20is%20a%20deceptive,security%20number%20over%20the%20phone.

[3] How TikTok Predators Are Interacting With Kids https://www.bark.us/blog/predators-use-tiktok-kids/

[4] Father Warns Parents About Popular App After His 7-Year-Old Daughter Is Asked to Send Suggestive Photos https://people.com/human-interest/father-warns-parents-about-popular-app-after-his-7-year-old-daughter-is-asked-to-send-suggestive-photos/

[5] How Scammers Target Kids Online https://www.onpointcu.com/blog/how-scammers-target-kids-online/

[6]Social Media And Mental Health: How To Help Your Child Develop Healthy Social Media Habits https://fairhopepeds.com/blog/social-media-and-mental-health-how-to-help-your-child-develop-healthy-social-media-habits/

[7]How to Teach Kids About Phishing and Online Scams https://www.verywellfamily.com/teach-kids-about-phishing-and-online-scams-5248479

[8]The Dangers of Putting Too Much Pressure on Kids https://www.verywellfamily.com/the-dangers-of-putting-too-much-pressure-on-kids-1094823

[9] The Parent Trap: Entertainment Industry Scams, Scammers and Scumbags. https://vadastudios.com/news/the-parent-trap-entertainment-industry-scams-scammers-and-scumbags/

[10]` TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/tiktok-parents-are-taking-advantage-of-their-kids-it-needs-to-stop/

[11] 25 Actionable Tips on How to Make Your Child an Instagram Influencer https://www.olesia.co.in/actionable-tips-on-how-to-make-your-child-an-instagram-influencer

[12] https://getkidsinternetsafe.com/scammed/

Photo Credits

Photo by Kelly Huang https://unsplash.com/photos/2bZnaKfM2JA?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink

Photo by rupixen.com https://unsplash.com/photos/Q59HmzK38eQ?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink

Photo by Amanda Vick

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Photo by Al Elmes

https://unsplash.com/photos/Ou7I8x-9T_s?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink

Photo by Natalya Zaritskaya https://unsplash.com/photos/SIOdjcYotms?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink

Scammers Target the Elderly: How to Avoid Being Scammed

April 4, 2022 by Ashley Salazar

Scams can cause extreme financial and emotional distress to victims and their families. With technology, scammers have become more creative in accessing their victims by offering quick clicks and false credibility. Even young teens that navigate effortlessly online have a hard time distinguishing legitimate situations from scams. To help you and your family avoid becoming the victims of a scammer, I interviewed “William”^* who shared his mother’s story. She was an educated professional that fell victim to multiple scams over five years. You won’t want to miss the true story about what happened to her. If your family hasn’t taken steps for increased awareness and cybersecurity, you’ll want to check out our Cybersecurity & Red Flags supplement. The perfect compliment to our free Connected Family Agreement, you can take the extra steps you need to protect your loved ones right now. Our guide offers tips to avoid hacking, scamming, malware, and phishing and is a must-have for today’s modern family. Today’s GKIS article shares the story of an elderly woman victimized by scammers, the types of scams to look out for, and tips on how to avoid becoming a victim yourself.[1]

*Names were changed to protect the privacy of the victims.

What are scams?

A scam is a dishonest scheme to cheat someone or steal money. With the help of technology, scammers have been able to target their victims in more creative, easier, and faster ways than ever before. According to an FBI report, 2020 scams resulted in a loss of over 4.2 billion dollars. With more baby boomers retiring and the pandemic resulting in more at-hone isolation, I suspect those losses rose in the last few years.[1,2]

Who Scammers Target

Although anyone can become a scam victim, research has shown that scammers tend to target kids, teens, and the elderly. A study conducted by the University of Iowa confirmed that a certain area of the prefrontal cortex of the brain is responsible for processing information and solving problems – tasks that help people consider whether information is true or not. Young people tend to be vulnerable to scams because this part of the brain is still developing, and older individuals are vulnerable when they demonstrate poor technological fluency, are isolated, or suffer from a decline in problem solving ability.[3]

The Story of William and His Mom

William is a middle-aged man who generously shared his story with us about his elderly mother, Mrs. Thorn, who was scammed out of tens of thousands of dollars over a five-year period. Despite his best efforts to protect and rescue her from the scammers, he struggled to keep her safe. Once one scammer got ahold of her and convinced her to send money, many other scammers started approaching her too. William suspects that the scams were somehow linked as if they shared her information with others. Below are some of the scams she fell victim to.

Different Types of Scams

Charity Scams

William described his mother as a generous individual. She was a nurse in Japan during the 1950s, and, after she retired, she continued helping others by volunteering at church and other organizations. As she got older, she would receive postcards in the mail from different charities, a common scam targeted at elders. Although her income from social security and savings was not a lot, she began “donating” money to those she perceived as less fortunate than herself.

Piecing together what happened with his mom’s checking and bank documents, William found that she initially sent small amounts of money ranging from $5-10. Once the scammers had her on the hook, however, they would groom her for larger and larger “charitable” donations.[4]

Lottery/Sweepstakes Scams

Another scam that William’s mother fell victim to was the lottery/sweepstakes scam, which also commonly targets elders. These types of scams claim that the victim has won a large amount of money or other prizes such as a new car. Once the victim is excited and eager to collect their prize, scammers require that they pay a fee or taxes. As the scammer reaches out with details, the victim often adopts an illusion of intimacy, meaning they feel they have a personal, caring relationship with the scammer. This false intimacy pulls the victim in deeper, often eliciting more and more personal information from the victim.

William confirmed that Mrs. Thorn spoke to the scammers about his efforts to block their access and protect her safety. Mrs. Thorn’s scammers not only instructed her not to tell anyone because it could be a nice surprise for her family, but they also offered specific suggestions on how to work around the safeguards her son put in place. They seemed to play on her wishes for independence and worked to create and escalate conflict between her and her son.

Our GKIS Connected Family Course can help you close screen risk gaps and improve family cooperation and closeness. If you have school-age children at home or love somebody who does, check it out. Not only does the course offer amazing safety home setup tips, but it helps parents create fun dialogues for better, healthier parent-child relationships.[4]

Government Impersonation Scams

William noticed that some of the scams his mom was involved with may be linked with others. For instance, to pay the taxes of her “prize,” the scammer would set Mrs. Thorn up to talk to an “IRS agent.” These types of scams are known as government impersonation scams which are types of very popular imposter scams. According to the FBI, government impersonation scams typically involve the scammer impersonating a government official who threatens to arrest or prosecute victims unless they pay a fee. William shared that they even tried to trick him with false threats of prosecution and arrest unless he agreed to cooperate.

Dr. Bennett shared that immigrants can easily be targeted with this type of scam as well. She shared a story of a colleague who was a Chinese immigrant who worked as a software engineer. This victim’s scammer posed as a member of the Chinese government and threatened the safety of her family if she didn’t pay overdue fines. The scammer demanded that she not tell her friends and family and immediately pay. She lost over $150,000 that was never recovered before she realized she’d been scammed.[4]

Phone Scams

William explains that although his mother’s scams initially started by mail, they soon turned into phone calls. He allowed me access to his mother’s journal which included notes on the people she spoke to and what they had asked her to do. Her notes reveal that she would talk to the same people over and over and eventually trusted them more than her own family and friends. The scammers were very persuasive and would instruct her how to wire funds to unfamiliar places and people, even going so far as giving her directions to wiring locations that her son had not blocked yet. William spent countless hours visiting banks, local wiring locations, and friends begging them to not help his mom transfer money or provide transportation. Although he spoke to his mom many times, he found that the scammers would get to her anyway with relentless pressure and creative arguments.

Scammers have no limits.

It was not until William caught his mom almost wire transferring $200,000 that he finally got the information he needed to gain conservatorship over Mrs. Thorn. By then, the scammers had even instructed her to how to send money from q reverse mortgage loan on her home to complete the transaction!

William said the scammers had no shame and would even help her find ways to continue participating in the scams even after he took steps to stop them. He shared that they would pressure her with false deadlines and threats, making her so anxious that she would rush into performing workaround instructions. Her journal reflects moments of intense anxiety as she tried to complete the complex transactions.

To emphasize how far scammers would go, he shared that, after he lowered his mom’s allowance to $25 a week and there was not much to get from her anymore, they still tried one last thing – the 976 phone scam. According to William, this is a scam where you call back a number with an area code of 976 and get charged a huge per-minute fee. The longer the scammer keeps the victim on the phone confused and anxious, the more money the scammer gets.

Avoid Being Next

William shared that his mom was scammed out of about $70,000 before it stopped. If it was not for her son’s compassionate and tireless commitment to protect her, it could have been far more. Other popular scams include shopping scams and job opportunity scams. If you are worried that bad actors can access your family members, check out our Screen Safety Toolkit. Our resource guide is perfect for those that need smart tech tools for filtering, monitoring, and management.

Tips to Outsmart the Scammers

Contact your phone carrier and internet service provider to research helpful tools for blocking unwanted and unknown calls, texts, and emails.
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Don’t act immediately, take a moment to research the situation and talk to someone who you trust.
Don’t give out personal information like your name, date of birth, social security number, address, or usernames or passwords. Legitimate organizations will not text, call, or email you to obtain private information.
Don’t complete forms from an email link. Instead, go directly to the website of the company you are dealing with and complete the business from there.
Call the company directly to confirm the request was legitimate before you offer information or complete forms. The IRS communicates through US mail, not by telephone or email. Call 800-366-4484 to report IRS-related phishing attempts and fraud.
Be sure to keep up with device updates for security patches, delete unused and unwanted apps, and change your passwords frequently.
Review your credit card statements regularly to catch unauthorized charges and periodically review your credit report.
Consider freezing your social security number for new financial transactions with Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion to escape identity theft.
Use your telephone services provider’s spam filters and add your phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry.
Lastly, Google “scams” or a quote from any communication that may be a scam to learn more about the common scams that may target you.

Scams are no joke. Once you become a victim, serious damage can occur that can take years and years to repair. Check out our other GKIS article Child Identity Theft is on the Rise. Protect Your Family Against Cybercrime, to learn more about how fraudulent purchases made with your private information can change your life

Here are some other related articles offered on our GKIS website for more information on hacking, scamming, malware, and phishing. Learn more about the dangers of online to be prepared for anything that comes your way.

Virtual Kidnapping, A Parent’s Worst Nightmare. How to Protect Yourself and Your Family.

Child Identity Theft is on the Rise. Protect Your Family Against Cybercrime

YouTube Celebrity Scams

Hackers Can Access Your Computer’s Webcam Without Your Knowledge

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly of Craigslist

Kids Commonly Contact Predators on Video Chat

If you are a victim of a scam, contact your local law enforcement and visit expert online resources such as

https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety

https://www.fbi.gov/tips

https://www.fbi.gov/fbi-kids

https://www.identitytheft.gov/#/

https://www.missingkids.org/HOME

Thanks to CSUCI intern, Ashley Salazar for researching scams that are targeting the elder community and co-authoring this article.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Works Cited

[1] O’ Brien, S. (2021) Tech-savvy teens falling prey to online scams faster than their grandparents. CNBC Personal Finance. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/10/tech-savvy-teens-falling-prey-to-online-scams-faster-than-their-grandparents.html

[2] FBI National Office. (2021) FBI Releases the Internet Crime Complaint Center 2020 Internet Crime Report, Including COVID-19 Scam Statistics. FBI.

https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-the-internet-crime-complaint-center-2020-internet-crime-report-including-covid-19-scam-statistics#:~:text=The%20FBI’s%20Internet%20Crime%20Complaint,reported%20losses%20exceeding%20%244.2%20billion.

[3] Health 24. (2012) Why older people are more gullible. Health 24. https://www.news24.com/health24/Mental-Health/Brain/News/Why-older-people-are-more-gullible-20130210

[4] FBI (n.d.) Scams and Safety: Elder Fraud. FBI. https://www.fbi.gov/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/elder-fraud

Photos Credited

Photo by Danie Franco (https://unsplash.com/photos/l9I93gZKTG4)

Photo by Katt Yukawa (https://unsplash.com/photos/K0E6E0a0R3A)

Photo by Waldemar Brandt (https://unsplash.com/photos/MVxXlwspmcI)

Do You Know What YouTube Is Showing Your Kids?

November 19, 2021 by JasonStewart

Who (or what) makes the content your kids watch on YouTube? In some cases, it’s hard-working creators who strive to make quality videos for entertainment or education. In other cases, it’s a computer program designed to efficiently produce videos for a lot of views and big profit. With this in mind, it is up to parents to ensure that their kids have a safe and fun experience while online. For helpful and empowering tools to establish a safe screen home environment, check out our Screen Safety Essentials Course. Today’s GKIS article tells you what you need to know to make YouTube viewing safer for your kids.

Bots!

Bots are computer programs designed by people or other bots to carry out specific online tasks. Not all bots are bad. However, they can run without any oversight from an actual human being.

One application for bots is creating YouTube videos for kids. More specifically, in this capacity bots combine video segments and post them over and over to test how many views they get. Once the tests are completed, the bot has created and run videos that ultimately make money for the programmer. Now that’s artificial intelligence!

Bot-Made Videos

Bot-made videos can look like a normal kid’s video, but they are typically a bit stranger. They often contain just enough story to string the randomly chosen segments together, but not enough story for everything happening to make logical sense. There are just enough familiar elements to hold a child’s attention but nothing educational or valuable to a child.

These videos distract kids long enough to get them to view ads and may even cause harm. After all, many times a human’s eyes have not viewed the video, and bots can’t discriminate a harmful video from a harmless one. At a glance, parents can’t discriminate either. Plus, most parents simply don’t take the time to preview thousands of videos their kids browse each day – especially from beginning to end.

Using Branded Characters to Bail Kids

One element that gets kids searching and watching are recognizable characters. Although branded characters are used without permission and are placed in a disjointed storyline for the video, kids will select them and stay entrapped expecting entertainment. For example, in her book Screen Time in the Mean Time, Dr. Bennett describes an alarming video portraying popular kid’s cartoon character, Peppa the Pig, screaming while being tortured in a dentist’s chair. The beginning of the video looks like a regular Peppa the Pig story. But near the middle of it, the story takes a confusing, terrible turn. Inappropriate video content make be shocking and even funny to older kids but vulnerable young children don’t have the insight or sophisticated skill set to look away. This can feel like a violent ambush and result in confusion, shame, and trauma.

Auto-play

Kids don’t always view these videos because they searched out the characters. Sometimes it is offered to them automatically in their feed. Auto-play is a YouTube feature where a new video is automatically

started after the one currently playing ends. Auto-play will select a video that is similar to the one you just watched based on tags that content creators mark their videos with when they post them. If auto-play is left on too long, it can lead a viewer down a rabbit hole of similar but stranger and stranger videos until they fall into bot-generated content.

The Algorithm

Unfortunately, bot-made videos and more can slip onto YouTube relatively easily. The huge volume of content uploaded to YouTube every day means that having a human being review every video uploaded to the site would be impossible. Instead, YouTube has another way to filter the content uploaded to its site, a bot of their own.

YouTube’s algorithm is, in essence, a much more advanced form of a bot that can scan through every video as it’s uploaded and automatically flag anything that violates YouTube’s terms of service, or at least that’s what it’s supposed to do. Unfortunately, YouTube’s algorithm can’t detect every inconsistency. It’s looking for the very specific things it was programmed to look for. Videos that don’t contain these specific violations slip by the filters. Many content creators have learned what exactly the algorithm is looking for, and some of them use it to slip inappropriate content past the sensors.

YouTube’s algorithm is also responsible for other features on the site including auto-play. The algorithm is what decides what’s worth showing next after a video, and what isn’t. However, the algorithm is only capable of discerning what videos are similar to others based on the tags assigned to a video. If a bot learns to place all the relevant tags for child content on an automatically generated video, then the algorithm will suggest it as if it were normal child content.

What can you do about bot content?

There are a few things that you as a parent can do to protect your children from bot-generated content:

Check in on your kids when they’re watching YouTube

So you can be sure the algorithm hasn’t drifted too far away from where it started.

Get Help

Monitoring everything your child watches can be a daunting task GKIS is here to help. Our Social Media Readiness Course is designed to teach your tweens or teens how to spot red flags on social media sites and when they’re gaming.

Turn off auto-play

The auto-play feature can be disabled by clicking the auto-play button at the bottom of YouTube videos. The button appears as a small black and white play button and is replaced by a black and white pause button while disabled. By turning off this feature, YouTube will no longer pick the next video your child watches next and instead will wait for you to manually choose the next video.

Limit your child’s time on YouTube

The bot-generated content of YouTube is at the bottom of the algorithm’s list of choices. Children often end up being presented with bot-generated content after spending too much time watching videos on YouTube. Our Connected Family Course has screen management strategies and safe-screen home setup ideas to help you manage your child’s screen time.

If you do catch your kids being exposed to an inappropriate video, report it.

Videos reported to YouTube as inappropriate are reviewed by real people who can catch the video for what it is. An offending video will be deleted permanently and can get the channel it comes from deleted entirely.

Thanks to CSUCI intern, Jason T. Stewart for researching bot-generated content and co-authoring this article.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com

Works Cited

Robertson, Adi. “What makes YouTube’s surreal kids’ videos so creepy” The Verge, https://www.theverge.com/culture/2017/11/21/16685874/kids-youtube-video-elsagate-creepiness-psychology

Maheshwari, Sapna. “On YouTube Kids, Startling Videos Slip Past Filters” NY Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/business/media/youtube-kids-paw-patrol.html

Oremus, Will. “Even YouTube’s service for kids is being abused. Can anything control the massive platforms that now shape our lives?” Slate, https://slate.com/technology/2017/11/those-disturbing-youtube-videos-for-kids-are-a-symptom-of-techs-scale-problem.html

Photo Credits

Photo By: Kaufdex (https://pixabay.com/photos/youtube-media-screen-mac-apple-2449144/)

Photo By: Gerd Altmann (https://pixabay.com/illustrations/binary-one-cyborg-cybernetics-1536624/)

Photo By: Gerd Altmann (https://pixabay.com/photos/hacker-attack-mask-internet-2883632/)

Photo By: Markus Trier (https://pixabay.com/photos/homeschooling-school-technology-5121262/)

Virtual Kidnapping, A Parent’s Worst Nightmare. How to Protect Yourself and Your Family.

January 20, 2018 by Dr. Tracy Bennett

Virtual kidnapping scams are on the rise and, since it is difficult to identify the perpetrator, they are unlikely to go away. Last week a Facebook friend posted about a terrifying telephone scam. She encouraged me to share her story. Be warned, it’s really upsetting, and it’s a true story! It’s worth the read so you won’t fall emotional and financial victim to scammers, phishers, and extortionists.

“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! He’s got me! He’s got me!”

A mother’s WORST NIGHTMARE, and it happened to me Saturday morning.

I was at home working in my office when my cell phone rang. I picked it up and heard a girl screaming and crying, “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! He’s got me! He’s got me!” Then a male voice saying, “Shut the f__ up b___!” The girl’s voice sounded like my daughter who is living away for graduate school.

The world beneath me fell away. I can’t tell you the fear I felt. This VILE man spoke to me in a thick accent telling me what he is going to do to her, and after he’s finished with her he will send her home to me in pieces if I don’t give him money right now.

I kept talking to him on speaker while dialing 911. The dispatcher said, “Stay on the phone, police have been dispatched.” Within minutes a special crime unit arrived.

For the next twenty minutes, I spoke to the “kidnapper” while the police coached my questions and traced the call. I demanded he put her on the phone and text me her picture. He continued to threaten terrible things. Meanwhile, our calls to my daughter went to voicemail, so they sent Arizona police her work.

My husband and other daughter could see my texts, CALL HOME NOW!!!! URGENT!!! and were freaking out. Neighbors told them the police were everywhere, and they couldn’t get through.

Finally she texted after the police located her at work. They checked her apartment and verified it was safe. I broke down crying.

I don’t want ANYONE, EVER to go through what we did! The fear and possible reality were there for me for what seemed like hours! All I have thought about ALL weekend is “These VILE people are putting someone else through this!” Please share this story about the new horrible scam out there.

Source of the Theft

A few days after my friend posted this story, I followed up with her. She informed me that another family from the same university was scammed by the same man minutes after he hung up on her. They were about to wire $7000 before they were able to contact their daughter. This incident made her wonder if the information was gathered from hacked university data. A few weeks later, another Facebook friend posted this one:

Today my parents got a phone call from someone pretending to be my son. He told my dad that he went to the store to get cold medicine with a friend from school who was driving, they got pulled over, and his friend had pot in the car, so he was arrested and now was in jail. He begged my dad not to tell “my mom.”

My dad asked a few questions and was thinking it may be a scam, but he said the person on the phone sounded young, so he wasn’t quite sure. After a few questions, the kid hung up. We’re pretty sure that he would have asked for money to wire or something. My son is safe at school (I checked). But wanted to pass this on to you guys. Maybe this scam has been going around? Obviously, they are targeting older people, and I can see some people falling for it. My dad is pretty sharp, and it still tricked him at first.

Other Scams to Look Out For

Other types of extortion scams involve the perpetrator posing as the IRS or a crime cartel framing you for a false crime that will result in a suspension of your bank accounts, criminal charges, or a threat to you or your family’s safety if you do not send money. For instance, there have been reports of victims on vacation receiving a call in their hotel room stating that they are being targeted by a drug cartel and should turn off their phones to remain safe. While the victim is out of communication, the virtual kidnappers demand money from friends and family.

Another type of scam involves ransomware, which is a virus that infects your computer and encrypts the data. The scammer sends a message threatening to keep your hijacked computer data unless a ransom is received.

To avoid this kind of virus:

learn how to identify typical phishing strategies,
do not click on unknown email links or websites,
install premium security software, and
keep your software updated.
It is also important to backup computer data on a secure cloud-based backup service with revision history. Even legitimate websites can be hacked to spread malware, so awareness and preparation are key.

Here are GetKidsInternetSafe tips to avoid being a victim of virtual kidnapping:

Stay up to date about the scams popular in your area.
Set your social media profiles to private and avoid giving out personal information. Teach your kids to do the same with GetKidsInternetSafe techniques.
Occasionally cleanse your social media profile of photos. A backlog of photos tells a detailed blueprint of your family’s activities and personalities. When viewed by a perpetrator, those details can be used against you.
Keep your telephone landline.
Download GPS location-sharing apps to family member phones, such as Find My iPhone, Find Friends, or Life360.
Create an emergency plan, which includes a list sharing of names and phone numbers of workplace landlines, friends, and extended family. Create and include family nicknames to use in case of a need for emergency telephone identification.
If you get a suspicious call, assess its authenticity. For example, if the call is not from the victim’s telephone and they want you to stay on the phone until the money is delivered, be suspect.
If they are on the victim’s phone, recognize that the phone may have been hacked and forwarded to another phone or lost or stolen. Just because the number shows up as your child’s phone doesn’t necessarily mean the scammer has possession of the phone or the phone’s owner.
Recognize that scammers often ask for money to be wired through services like Western Union or online currency like Bitcoin, as these methods of payment are untraceable.
Stay calm, slow the caller down, and do not share any personal information. Ask them to answer a question only the victim would know. Don’t challenge or argue with the caller. Buy time by saying you are writing down the demand and need time to comply.
Use another device to call the police while on the phone.
Ask questions and, if feasible, demand a call from the victim’s phone or a picture of the victim.
Get to a safe place as soon as possible.

These tips do not constitute legal advice from GetKidsInternetSafe. Although many of these suggestions are offered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation website, recognize that nothing outweighs your instincts. Err on the side of caution and seek expert help from your local police department or the FBI.

Worried about child identity theft? Check out this GKIS article to learn how to protect your child’s financial security. To learn about other scams effecting the elderly, read Scammers Target the Elderly: How to Avoid Being Scammed.

I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetYourKidsInternetSafe.

Onward to More Awesome Parenting,

Tracy S. Bennett, Ph.D.
Mom, Clinical Psychologist, CSUCI Adjunct Faculty
GetKidsInternetSafe.com