SBI talks about how to keep children safe online
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on May 25, 2016 12:14 PM
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News-Argus/ALAN CAMPBELL
Special Agent Chad L. Barefoot, of the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, speaks Tuesday during the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force meeting at Heritage Hall at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. The community outreach program is designed to help teach parents how to protect their children from online hazards.
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News-Argus/ALAN CAMPBELL
Master Sgt. Luis Torres listens intently Tuesday during the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force meeting.
Special agents from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base's Office of Special Investigations held a joint task force meeting Tuesday on base to discuss Internet crimes being committed against children and what parents can do to combat those crimes.
SBI special agent Chad Barefoot said it is a myth that online predators are old men, pedophiles or that the perpetrators pretend to be younger online and will abduct victims from their homes.
The truth, he said, is that people preying on children on the Internet are likely to be mostly men, 26 years old and older, are not likely to be pedophiles, rarely lie about their age to the victim and usually do not abduct children from their homes.
"Predators -- that's what we all fear. At the end of the day, when we sit at home at night, that's our concern is that somebody is going to snatch our youngin' up and run off with them or do something to them," Barefoot said. "What we think about is some old guy, some 55-year-old dude, who's a pedophile that pretends to be younger than he is and abducts kids from their homes. I can tell you -- does it happen? Yes. But it is extremely rare."
Instead of being abducted, Barefoot said, most of the children that go from being targets to victims of Internet crimes willingly meet the perpetrator and lie to their parents about where they are going or what they are doing.
"You know what happens, don't you? And y'all, I hate to say it, but your children tell you they're going to the movies or your children tell you they're going for a run, and they voluntarily leave home to go meet these people," Barefoot said. "They just don't realize the situation they're getting themselves into until they're in it."
The targets of Internet crimes are predominantly children ages 13 to 15 years old -- 75 percent of targets are female and 25 percent are male.
"We have this view that our males are more safe, you know, our little boys -- we don't have to worry about them as much," Barefoot said. "I don't know what it is engrained in our culture, but we feel that way. But I can tell y'all that in my experience, the majority of victims I've found are little boys."
Barefoot provided several strategies to the parents in attendance that will allow them to keep their children safe online.
One of the best strategies, Barefoot said, is to be nosy -- know what electronic devices your children have and know what apps they are using.
"If your child's got a room in your house, when they go to school or when they go off to their friend's house, as a parent, you need to be in that room," Barefoot said. "You need to be looking through their stuff. They're going to complain and whatever -- I don't care y'all. We are the parents. And one thing I've seen over time is these people that want to be their child's best friend. Love your children, look after them, but at the same time we are parents. It's our job to protect them. So I'm an advocate of being nosy. I'm going to be in their room, and I'm going to be in their devices."
Barefoot said he has investigated many cases where parents do not know the passcode to their child's electronic devices -- and worse, the parents don't know whether or not their child has a backup phone they hide from their parents.
"I'm telling y'all, we have went in rooms and done searches and all of the sudden I come back out with another phone and another tablet, and I sit it down in front of these parents, and they're just like a deer in the headlights," Barefoot said.
Barefoot said children will often get backup phones from friends that just upgraded their cell phones who now have a cell phone they aren't using. That device will not connect to cell service, but it will connect to wifi and enable the child to go online and chat with potential predators.
"Y'all I hate to say it, but it's just like a drug dealer," Barefoot said. "They got their good phone, they got their dirty phone. And unless you're paying attention to what they have or what might be in their room, you'll never know."
Barefoot also said "sexting" -- the act of sending or receiving nude or partially nude photos on an electronic device -- is rampant. It is also a felony if done by minors under 18 years old under two different North Carolina statutes.
According to Barefoot, 2.5 percent of teenagers have sexted and 7 percent say they have received a sext.
He said there are three prominent reasons as to why teenagers sext -- to be funny, to impress a crush and to share with a significant other.
But, Barefoot said, while it might seem harmless to send a sext to someone you are dating or have a crush on, what happens to the picture once it leaves your phone is out of your hands. It can fall into the hands of classmates, co-workers or child predators.
"These images are getting used against these children," Barefoot said. "They're getting bombarded with it, they're getting bullied because of it and they're getting used as a tool for a couple different things. The boyfriend that she's in love with today, that she's going to marry and spend the rest of her life with -- guess what (happens) next week? They ain't together anymore and they hate each other. Well, what does he do? He starts using these images against her. I've had young women do the exact same thing to young men."
If you are concerned that your child is a victim of Internet crimes -- be it cyberbullying or sexual exploitation -- you can anonymously report the activity at www.CyberTipline.com or by calling 1-800-THE-LOST.