Don't let the groomers win!
As young people in this modern world we are all very well aware of the power of the internet.
As a campaigner for groups like the East Ilford Betterment Partnership and the British Paksitani Christian Association I myself have had to use social media to promote our work, and without social media we would fail to reach the global audience who have come to read the material we produce.
However, in the same way that the internet and especially social media can be used for good of course those who intend to use it for more evil purposes have the same access as those who choose to use it for good. These sites do not discriminate and their policing of content pushed out by users is poor at best and slow to react meaning that fraud and exploitation is rife.
There are many social media that people use and though Facebook is still the most popular especially in 20 - 40 year olds, others like twitter, Instagram, whatsapp and snapchat all have large segments of the market and this list is not exclusive.
I myself am an avid user of Instagram and I write this blog to warn young people like me who could become prone to attempts to exploit them. With this in mind I share a recent experience I had.
It all started when a man who called himself Pranav Kumar quick added himslef to my profile on Snapchat and said hello.
I responded to the hello with a hello to see who he was and if we had similar interests.
He then followed up by telling me he had added me on quick adds - but I already new this as he was a stranger.
People have added me on quick adds before but we don't really communicate and I am not that bothered as I do share my community work on my social media. They may have an interest in that which helps the groups.
However Pranav Kumar then went on to ask me my age and school so was obviously aware of my tender age.
I told him how old I was and gave him a false name for my school (as I feared his intentions).
I then asked him his age and school and he told me he was 22 and a student of the University of East London - at which point I became a bit worried as he was many years older than me.
He then bizarrely asked me if I wanted to be in a relationship. This was very disturbing and I immediately replied with a firm No and told him I was 15 and he should find someone his own age.
He then said 'Fine do you want to be friends?' at which point I first screen shot all the messages and then blocked him.
I discussed that matter with some friends and one of them a girl the same age as me and in my class had been approached by the same man. However, he gave her a different age and university suggesting he was up to no good.
I did not do anything further about the messages till my father and mother began a conversation on the table warning us about online groomers, after it was discovered that several girls at my sisters school had been groomed over social media.
When I shared what had happened to me with my father, we took the obvious action of calling the police and shared all the messages with them. Our local Police constabulary took down the details and began an investigation which included calling the university to check in this Pranav was a student at their establishment.
Essex police later advised me they could not investigate further but told me that my actions were text-book responses on how to tackle such approaches on social media. With that in mind I share these details with you so that other young people can also protect themselves from the predators that use our vulnerablities and what have been otherwise innovative social media - to their own grimy ends.
I hope this post has been useful but even then I have also created a petition which will hopefully add further protections to social media use. Please take a read of it by clicking the hyperlink below and perhaps sign it of you agree with the contents:
https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/protect-children-and-young-people-from-on-line-grooming.html
As a campaigner for groups like the East Ilford Betterment Partnership and the British Paksitani Christian Association I myself have had to use social media to promote our work, and without social media we would fail to reach the global audience who have come to read the material we produce.
However, in the same way that the internet and especially social media can be used for good of course those who intend to use it for more evil purposes have the same access as those who choose to use it for good. These sites do not discriminate and their policing of content pushed out by users is poor at best and slow to react meaning that fraud and exploitation is rife.
There are many social media that people use and though Facebook is still the most popular especially in 20 - 40 year olds, others like twitter, Instagram, whatsapp and snapchat all have large segments of the market and this list is not exclusive.
I myself am an avid user of Instagram and I write this blog to warn young people like me who could become prone to attempts to exploit them. With this in mind I share a recent experience I had.
It all started when a man who called himself Pranav Kumar quick added himslef to my profile on Snapchat and said hello.
I responded to the hello with a hello to see who he was and if we had similar interests.
He then followed up by telling me he had added me on quick adds - but I already new this as he was a stranger.
People have added me on quick adds before but we don't really communicate and I am not that bothered as I do share my community work on my social media. They may have an interest in that which helps the groups.
However Pranav Kumar then went on to ask me my age and school so was obviously aware of my tender age.
I told him how old I was and gave him a false name for my school (as I feared his intentions).
I then asked him his age and school and he told me he was 22 and a student of the University of East London - at which point I became a bit worried as he was many years older than me.
He then bizarrely asked me if I wanted to be in a relationship. This was very disturbing and I immediately replied with a firm No and told him I was 15 and he should find someone his own age.
He then said 'Fine do you want to be friends?' at which point I first screen shot all the messages and then blocked him.
I discussed that matter with some friends and one of them a girl the same age as me and in my class had been approached by the same man. However, he gave her a different age and university suggesting he was up to no good.
I did not do anything further about the messages till my father and mother began a conversation on the table warning us about online groomers, after it was discovered that several girls at my sisters school had been groomed over social media.
When I shared what had happened to me with my father, we took the obvious action of calling the police and shared all the messages with them. Our local Police constabulary took down the details and began an investigation which included calling the university to check in this Pranav was a student at their establishment.
Essex police later advised me they could not investigate further but told me that my actions were text-book responses on how to tackle such approaches on social media. With that in mind I share these details with you so that other young people can also protect themselves from the predators that use our vulnerablities and what have been otherwise innovative social media - to their own grimy ends.
I hope this post has been useful but even then I have also created a petition which will hopefully add further protections to social media use. Please take a read of it by clicking the hyperlink below and perhaps sign it of you agree with the contents:
https://www.gopetition.com/petitions/protect-children-and-young-people-from-on-line-grooming.html
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