:|Too Much Info:|
In this day and age we all need to take care of just how much information we decide to share over the web. A few years ago a young girl (13 or 14 I think) was chatting on line with a young boy about the same age who lived half way across the country. The actual story is below. She told him all sorts of thing about herself. They talked about everything from her favorite color to her favorite sport, her jersey number, what school she went to, and their mascot name. A few weeks later she was playing a game of softball at her school and noticed a much older man staring at her and smiling. At first she didn't think a thing about it. On her way home she started thinking about this strange man who had been looking at her all during her game. She started to get a little unnerved and began walking a little faster. When she finally arrived at home she was all set to tell her parents what had happened. She walked inside and saw that the same man who had been staring at her was standing in her living room talking with her parents. It turns out that this boy she had been talking to was in fact a 40 something year old man. This young lady was extremely lucky. This 40 year old guy was in fact a cop who lived alot closer then he had indicated while posing as the young boy. He was trolling the web as a part of a task force in search of child molester and kidnappers. He just happened to come across this girl and got what he needed. He found out where she lived by getting her to open up about herself. It doesn't take much. Once he figured out her school, her number, and her mascot it wasn't all that hard to find out when their next game was. From there, he just had to take a peek at the team roster to determine her name. Finding out wher she lived wasn't all that hard either. He explained to her parents what was going on and told them exactly how he found her. THIS IS THE SAME WAY SEXUAL PREDATORS FIND THEIR VICTIMS. I work in a prison and I deal with these types of scum bags on a daily basis. I've read their crime stories and know exactly how and what they have done to children. It is disturbing to say the least. This is mostly aimed at all you kids out there younger then 17 or 18. I know you all probably think it won't happen to you but guess what..... Every victim of molestation and kidnapping thought the same thing. Please, I beg of all of you, be careful. Watch out for yourselves as well as your friends. I don't want to think that the next new inmate we get may have hurt one of you. May God watch over all of you.
WORTH READING. For those of you with children and/or grandchildren, please take note. Shannon could hear the footsteps behind her as she walked toward home. The thought of being followed made her heart beat faster. "You're being silly," she told herself, "no one is following you." To be safe, she began to walk faster, but the footsteps kept up with her pace. She was afraid to look back and she was glad she was almost home.Shannon said a quick prayer, "God, please get me home safe." She saw the porch light burning and she leaned against the door for a moment, relieved to be in the safety of her home. She glanced out the window to see if anyone was there. The sidewalk was empty.After tossing her books on the sofa, she decided to grab a snack and get on-line. She logged on under her screen name ByAngel213. She checked her Buddy List and saw GoTo123 was on. She sent him an instant message: ByAngel213: Hi. I'm glad you are on! I thought someone was following me home today. It was really weird! GoTo123: LOL. You watch too much TV. Why would someone be following you? Don't you live in a safe neighborhood? ByAngel213: Of course I do. LOL. I guess it was my imagination cuz' I didn't see anybody when I looked out. GoTo123: Unless you gave your name out on-line. You haven't done that have you? ByAngel213: Of course not. I'm not stupid you know. GoTo123: Did you have a softball game after school today? ByAngel213: Yes and we won!! GoTo123: That's great! Who did you play? ByAngel213: We played the Hornets. LOL.Their uniforms are so gross!They look like bees. LOL GoTo123: What is your team called? ByAngel213: We are the Canton Cats. We have tiger paws on our uniforms.They are really cool. GoTo123: Did you pitch? ByAngel213: No I play second base. I got to go. My homework has to be done before my parents get home. I don't want them mad at me. Bye! GoTo123: Catch you later. Bye meanwhile...... GoTo123 went to the member menu and began to search for her profile. When it came up, he highlighted it and printed it out.He took out a pen and began to write down what he knew about Angel so far. Her name: Shannon Birthday: Jan. 3, 1985 Age: 13 State where she lived: North Carolina Hobbies: softball, chorus, skating and going to the mall. Besides this information, he knew she lived in Canton because she had just told him. He knew she stayed by herself until 6:30 p.m. every afternoon until her parents came home from work. He knew she played softball on Thursday afternoons on the school team, and the team wasn named the Canton Cats. Her favorite number 7 was printed on her jersey.He knew she was in the eighth grade at the Canton Junior High School. She had told him all this in the conversations they had on- line.He had enough information to find her now.Shannon didn't tell her parents about the incident on the way home from the ballpark that day. She didn't want them to make a scene and stop her from walking home from the softball games. Parents were always overreacting, and hers were the worst. It made her wish she was not an only child.Maybe if she had brothers and sisters,her parents wouldn't be so overprotective. By Thursday, Shannon had forgotten about the footsteps following her. Her game was in full swing when suddenly she felt someone staring at her. It was then that the memory came back. She glanced up from her second base position to see a man watching her closely.He was leaning against the fence behind first base and he smiled When she looked at him. He didn't look scary and she quickly dismissed the sudden fear she had felt. After the game, he sat on a bleacher while she talked to the coach. She noticed his smile once again as she walked past him. He nodded and she smiled back. He noticed her name on the back of her shirt.He knew he had found her.Quietly, he walked a safe distance behind her. It was only a few blocks to Shannon's home, and once he saw where she lived he quickly returned to the park to get his car.Now he had to wait. He decided to get a bite to eat until the time came to go to Shannon's house. He drove to a fast food restaurant and sat there until time to make his move. Shannon was in her room later that evening when she heard voices in the living room."Shannon, come here," her father called. He sounded upset and she couldn't imagine why. She went into the room to see the man from the ballpark sitting on the sofa."Sit down," her father began, "this man has just told us a most interesting story about you."Shannon sat back. How could he tell her parents anything? She had never seen him before today! "Do you know who I am, Shannon?" the man asked. "No," Shannon answered. "I am a police officer and your online friend, GoTo123." Shannon was stunned. "That's impossible! GoTo is a kid my age! He's 14. And he lives in Michigan!" The man smiled. "I know I told you all that, but it wasn't true. You see, Shannon, there are people on-line who pretend to be kids; I was one of them. But while others do it to find kids and hurt them, I belong to a group of parents who do it to protect kids from predators.I came here to find you to teach you how dangerous it is to talk to people on-line. You told me enough about yourself to make it easy for me to find you. You name the school you went to, the name of your ball team and the position you played. The number and name on your jersey just made finding you a breeze."Shannon was stunned. "You mean you don't live in Michigan?" He laughed. "No, I live in Raleigh. It made you feel safe to think I was so far away, didn't it?" She nodded."I had a friend whose daughter was like you. Only she wasn't as lucky. The guy found her and murdered her while she was home alone. Kids are taught not to tell anyone when they are alone, yet they do it all the time on-line. The wrong people trick you into giving out information a little here and there on-line. Before you know it, you have told them enough for them to find you without even realizing you have done it. I hope you've learned a lesson from this and won't do it again. Tell others about this so they will be safe too?" "It's a promise!" That night Shannon and her Dad and Mom all knelt down together and thanked God for protecting Shannon from what could have been a tragic situation. *****NOW***** Please send this to as many people as you can to teach them not to give any information about themselves. This world we live in today is too dangerous to even give out your age, let alone anything else. EVEN FORWARD THIS TO PEOPLE WITHOUT KIDS SO THEY CAN SEND IT TO FRIENDS WHO DO HAVE CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILDREN.For everyone above that age you need to be careful too. Why? Two words..... Identity Theft. Perpetrators of this crime use the same method.