A Must Read forAll who have children or grandchildren or in general who chat Online.
A Must Read for All who have children or grandchildren
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 was 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 injure 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 named 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 share this to as many people as you can to teach them not to give any
information about them selves. This world we live in today is too dangerous
to even give out your age, let alone anything else.
