When it comes to friendships and relationships it’s a brave new world thanks to the Internet. Horror stories abound about teens being lured off the Internet and in to compromising positions by pedophiles and sex traffickers. Unfortunately these types of stories are not merely urban legends. They really happen and Internet savvy teens are at the greatest risk.
The proliferation of meet-and-greet web sites over the past few years has only increased the danger that a teen will fall victim to an online predator. Websites like friendster.com, myspace.com, plentyoffish.com, all cater to teens and young adults who want to meet other people. These sites are not dating sites and, unlike reputable online dating services, the friendship building sites rarely screen users. All it takes to become a member is a username, a password and 5 minutes to build a profile. Users can upload pictures and they can post any information about themselves that they want including how to reach them in the real world. The sites are not monitored on an individual basis but instead operate under a complaint system. If another user or an outside individual, like a parent or teacher, complains about a profile only then do the site administrators bother to look at it. And while complaints are taken seriously, especially those made by parents, most profiles go unmonitored making these types of websites a prime target for Internet predators.
It is extremely easy to lie about who you are in an online profile. You can post any picture you want and claim it is of you. Predators do this without remorse. They pose as teenaged girls when they are really grown men and pictures posted along side the false profile fool other users. Predators also pose as ideal boyfriends, making them seem to be every girls dream guy, and again, they add pictures to bolster the deception. They predators then befriend teens and work to earn their trust. Sometimes they try to make the teens fall in “love” with them. Once trust is earned it seems only natural to make a date to meet face-to-face. Since many teens that meet people online do so in secret, without telling parents or even real life friends about their activities, face-to-face meetings are often set up without anybody else knowing. And while the taboo surrounding online relationships has dramatically decreased in recent years what hasn’t changed is the secrecy with which most teens conduct themselves online. It is ironic that the same teens who post many pictures of themselves and leave detailed profiles at public sites are unlikely to tell people in real time what they are up to.
