Ok, this is quite a long story. I hope it makes sense. **Real names have not been used**
On the weekend, my daughter came to me and said "Mum, theres something odd going on with some of my friends that i want to talk to you about cause im a bit worried"
She tells me that 3 of her friends (lets call them Tom, Jim and Sue) have made friends on facebook with a boy (lets call him John) they dont know who lives in Newcastle. Tom, Jim and Sue live in Adelaide.
Tom became friends with John first by receiving an out of the blue friend request from him.
John claims to be a 16 year old boy. His facebook page has lots of photos of him with heaps of friends. He's quite a good looking kid.
Tom think John is so cool and, via facebook, introduces him to Jim and Sue.
John strikes up quite a friendship with Sue and last week asked her to be his girlfriend. Sue is completely infatuated with John.
John has now said that his dad is going to bring him to Adelaide in a couple of weeks to meet Tom, Jim and Sue.
He has even said that a great place for them to all meet up would be the local swimming pool.
None of this sits right with me. Why a kid in Newcastle (a popular, good looking one according to his facebook page) would need to make friends with strangers in Adelaide. Would want one of them to be his girlfriend and then get his dad to bring him all the way over here to meet them.
Im not sure if you are all aware of the of the Carly Ryan story, but it is making me quite nervous about whats going on.
Carly Ryan- http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/7013312/internet-predators/
I know Jim's mother quite well and am going to talk to her about it all tomorrow. I know she has no idea who Jim talks to on facebook.
Im wondering, should i go to the police? They could at least investigate if John is real. I thought about going to the school, but all they would do is give a talk about internet predators and the kids would ignore it.
Over the weekend, my daughter tried to talk to Tom and Jim about the risks but they just didnt get it. They think John is so cool.
The whole "better to be safe than sorry" phrase keeps popping in my head.
Oh, and by the way, John's last name on facebook in Smith
How old are these naughty children?
what makes them naughty?
They are kids on facebook, as are millions of other kids, who think they are talking to another kid but are perhaps being groomed by an internet predator.
Was Carly Ryan a naughty child because she was groomed and murdered by an internet predator?
To the kids, they are simply talking to another kid about cool kid stuff.
How is that naughty?
Stupid...yes
But not naughty
