EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ ALL OF THIS and HAVE YOUR
CHILDREN READ IT TOO!
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:
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!
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?
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.
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.
GoTo1 23:
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.
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
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 parentssisters, 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."
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.
Usually hotels are a part of the cheap flights deals offered by the agents. Rarely you might have to go for something out of the deal, but most of the times, whether it is a car rental you are looking for, or cruises, is included in the deal.
10 comments:
I posted this and a link to your blog on my blog to share with my readers a post that desrves to spread far and wide across the web. So many parents allow their children free reign on the computer and this warning is precisly the reason they should NOT!
Thank you for sharing this story!!
i heard this before and it is indeed scary. trusting and giving out details as such would lead to danger. great entry and a good warning to all parents.
About ten years ago, a friend of mine told me his youngest was in the habit of exchanging vital information with people whose true identity she did not know. I showed him this story, which he showed the kid. She absorbed the information immediately and never did it again.
Good on you for alerting your friends to this.
I've read this before, and it is very scary. Thank god my kids don't have access to the computer unsupervised.
I guess I can leave a comment here...so I don't know what the heck is going on!
Excellent information.......thank you so much for posting this!!!
Take care!!
Linda
I remember reading this a few weeks ago and it is so scary. It's so true these predators know how to weasel that info out of these young kids! It is good to know though that there are some good guys out there trying to help. Good thing that you are posting this, if we keep spreading the word, we can change these things from happening to some unsuspecting person.
Oh gosh..
I sent this one to my daughter awhile back and it shook her (shook me too). She no longer has a MySpace page. Thanks for the reminder.
This was a GREAT story and a fantastic read... It's very tru and very scary... But what does kneeling and praying to god have to do with it at the end? "protecting" her? That's just silly... kind of like NOT monitoring your kids online activities - which is what these parents should have been doing all along. Other than that, this was a fantastic little story and I kind of wish more kids would get a 'scared straight' type lesson like this...
Thanks for posting this, Tammy. It's a lesson parents and teenagers should learn. So, it's a good idea to serve the net together with our young ones, just in case.
I think I should write a post on this and link it to your post. Should let more people know about this, should I?
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