Online Safety

[Rainman]

When chatting with anyone online never give them your residential address. That mistake almost cost a young woman her life. She'd met some gamer on the net 5 or 6 years ago and had been chatting until she decided to end the "relationship." When the guy learns he's been "ditched" he travels from the U.S to the UK, murder his intent.

The man manages to smuggle a hunting knife past customs, heads straight to the girl's home.

Fortunately, the girl's brother was home and when he heard "anguished screams" he dashed to her rescue sustaining several stab wounds as he wrestled the bastard.

Guys, make friends online but keep the friendship on the net lest you find yourself in a similar predicament.

 

[Josie]

And I know many relationships that started online that are doing amazingly and some that were ended that ended well.. tears and anger or not. You just never know who you're talking too. It could just as easily happen to you with your neighbour. Safety online is important though.. it's best to keep the identifying info to yourself until you really get to know someone. And again.. you can really get to know someone in your neighbourhood and still have this happen.. what can you do, but do your best.

 

[bala]

God that is scary.I never put up anything real online and i will make sure i stick to it.
I have to let all my sisters know about this first.I don't want any of them to turn a victim to all these.Be safe everyone,the world is becoming a nasty place to stay or share anything across.

 

[missbishi]

Online friends are only showing you what they want you to see. Often, it can be a completely different version of themselves. It's definitely wise to keep your address private, it's all too easy for them to just turn up on your doorstep. Let's all continue to be careful and vigilant.

 

[JoanMcWench]

WWW = Wild wild west

You open yourself up to other people in ways you may not even be aware. Facebook is the worst idea to have open & available to everyone. I'm not even a fan of having it generally protected. It's ridiculous how many children are unaware of potential dangers. Stir some angst into the soup & you have someone out there looking for people to listen. Unaware it's usually the wrong type of people.

 

[kana_marie]

I never heard about that! If it had been me, honestly, I would have made the same mistake she did. I would have assumed that kind of distance would have kept me safe.

 

[westmixxin]

When you're chatting online is very difficult to know who you're talking to. And to be incredibly careful about the individuals that you are associating with. If you're not you end up chatting with someone who's really not respectable. The last thing you want is to wake up and realize that you been talking to a predator. Predators are everywhere and they know exactly full to target and why they should be targeting them.

 

[dyanmarie25]

Who would ever give his/her complete home address online? People should really be very careful as to what kind of information they're giving to someone, specially if they only meet that someone through the cyberspace.

 

[Gabe]

I'm not singling out gamers, but they seem to be slightly more unhinged. There was a story here in the UK where gaming friends had a fall out over a game online and the teenager found out where he lived and stabbed him to death. Yes, one should be careful, but I do thing gamers are a different genreas they meet online to play games, not to get to know one another.

I have met some people from forums in real life, so yes one should be careful, but some people are normal. I am on a chat room/forum and I have known people there for a long time and I know some are sane and others are nutters who I don't give my real name or email to.

 

[PrideKidd]

I agree that you need to keep your personal life safe guarded while being online. If I would not have opened up myself to the possibility of meeting people online I would have never of met my loving husband of now 12 years. You do have to be VERY careful who and what you tell people however. When we met I made sure to have a group of friends with me so I am sort of torn on this topic. I believe under the right circumstances it can be a wonderful life changing opportunity.

 

[mrsbright]

Who would ever give his/her complete home address online? People should really be very careful as to what kind of information they're giving to someone, specially if they only meet that someone through the cyberspace.

I did. Gave my address to some online friends to exchange some snail mail. We exchanged cards and letters. Some times they sent me gifts, one time I sent one of them a book to practice their French. I met one of them two times, and called the others sometimes.

It's called judgment, and we may act like everyone online has the potential to come and kill you, only putting up a facade of sanity, but it's also true of anyone you meet in real life. Seriously. Your neighbour or the friend you met at the bar could come and kill you just as easily. Just the sort of stuff to happen. The frequency of internet friends coming to your place to get revenge is probably not as high as any other case of people stalking you or trying to kill you without the help of internet.

What people should be safer with online is how generally they could give too much info, and to not underestimate the details a picture you post can give -- your location (home address but also the possibility of showing that you are on vacations and therefore can be robbed), for instance.

 

[kana_marie]

You're absolutely right, too. It's really hard, though. When you are chatting with someone and you just really click its hard to imagine you might not know them as well as you think you. It's easy to feel like you know each other as well as you know you're friends in person.

 

[bala]

You're absolutely right, too. It's really hard, though. When you are chatting with someone and you just really click its hard to imagine you might not know them as well as you think you. It's easy to feel like you know each other as well as you know you're friends in person.

The hard part is we picture them exactly to how they publicize themselves on social media.Unless we know someone too well and one we know of physically,we can't trust them completely.It really is a boon and a bane for the generation..

 

[shilpa123]

Online safety is very important for every citizen. It is one of the most important things and should be done in the right manner. I believe it would be really great.

 

[Strykstar]

I personally don't buy that story, it just doesn't make sense, how did he get a knife past customs and why wouldn't he just buy one in the UK?
Of course you should always be careful but that's just a bad cautionary tale to make people afraid.

 

[Whitewolf2578]

Gotta watch out for those nerdy "Gamer" guys, they will do almost anything to have a girlfriend and when it is lost, they will stalk you to the ends of the earth. It is quite sad due to the fact I am a Gamer guy and I am not one of those people, hopefully this boy is rotting in prison hopefully and will drop the soap because he has it coming. I am guilty of meeting people off games though, but you usually have to get to know them before you tell them where you live. And even then, always have a shotgun pointed at the front door.

 

[Gelsemium]

There are some sites that are obviously fishy and we all know what I am talking about, so we should really stay away from those. Also, we should run a good anti-virus, ESET online scanner is a good free option.

 

[bala]

Online safety is very important for every citizen. It is one of the most important things and should be done in the right manner. I believe it would be really great.

For once i don't seem to understand the right manner part.Care to brief more.?
Also.What would be really great..? We would love to know more about your response but this looks incomplete

 

[FuZyOn]

I whole-hearthedly agree with you. You never know what psychos you may encounter on the internet and if you give them your address is very risky.
Try to form relationships in the real life, it's much better than online.