Dilemma. What would you do?

[daydream**believer]

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

[krazy.kiwi]

I would talk to any paents you know who are involved AND definitely the police.  If it turns out legit, no problems.  However I have alarm bells ringing everywhere!

And I think your daughter is wonderful for trying to help her friends.  Whatever happens, make sure she gets rewarded - even if it is just by a huge hug from her Mum. :-x

[daydream**believer]

Yep, i think thats waht im gonna do kiwi.

My alarm bells are ringing like mad. So much so that i have a migraine coming.

I have praised my daughter so much. Im so proud of her. We talked about how her friends might get angry with her for telling me and she said "I dont care Mum. If this guy is fake, then i may be saving their lives and if they want to hate me for that, then i dont want them as friends"

[the_hawk*]

Amy UHM

[daydream**believer]

"Educating children and young people about the potential threats posed by others online will help them to protect themselves from unwanted online contact."

And im so relieved that i have clearly educated my daughter enough.

When my daughter was trying to talk to Tom about it, he said "Do you think John might be a pedo?". My daughter said "He could be". Tom replied with "Well i'll just kick him in the nuts if he is"

Some kids have no idea about the dangers they could be putting themselves in

[daydream**believer]

Amy UHM

thanks Hawk

[lakeland27]

John is a name i have used on here, but the boys last name , according to his fb account is Smith.

He claims to be from Newcastle.

No matter what, i will be talking to the school about maybe organising a seminar to educate not only the kids but also parents about online safety and predators.

Lakeland- i think i will leave it up to the police to do that kind of investigating.

If you read the Carly Ryan story, you will see that not only Carly, but also her Mum were conned by the predator.

http://www.carlyryanfoundation.com/carlys_story

yes i know that story, and i guess you are  right.  i havent a FB account myself, but all E -mail goes through my inbox so i can keep tabs. for some reason my son (who has an account but no interest in FB) is 'friends' with two young malaysian women 🙂 i asked him who they are, the look of bewilderment said it all. no idea at all.

[katydidthat]

Iza and DDB I think I'm a police officer manque' 🙂

If you have a PhotoBucket account and you share photos from that, someone else can (or this is how it used to be) right click, choose Properties and get some information on the person who uploaded the picture.  Currently, if you post a PB photo on eBay and then right click and choose Inspect Element, you can get information including the name of the PB user (well, their id if they use that as everybody should).  

I just checked my FB account and same thing.  This might be a Google Chrome thing.  

That's the kind of problem that I like checking into ... but by all means just call the police and leave it to them.  

[daydream**believer]

ive gotta get off the computer now as i really do have a migraine coming 😞

BBL

[green.fields]

I would speak to the other parent/s whether you know them well or not, I would also speak to the police and school. Rather be safe than sorry.

[crystal**flake]

How old are these naughty children?