There's no escaping smartphones, computers, or tablets and all the apps downloaded on them, so parents should be aware of what apps their kids are using to talk to others online.
“[Online, kids] feel safe, they feel invincible. They don't feel the vulnerability, and they don't understand the long-term effects [of their actions],” said Sean Lacy, an investigator for the Isle of Wight County Sheriff's Office.
Investigator Lacy knows this better than most people. He serves on the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. It is his job to know about the dangers online.
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“[We see a lot of cases involved with] Snapchat, Instagram, and Discord,” Lacy said. “Discord is kind of like the Wild West when it comes to chatting and messaging.”
Lacy says his team has seen a huge increase in child predator cases from the platform. In fact, he says a lot of the popular apps kids are using let them send messages to strangers, even video call and chat.
“We ran a pretty good campaign of undercover chatting on Kik — Kik was probably, at one time, one of the best hunting grounds for [the ICAC task force] when it came to hunting predators. We arrested a significant amount of people, just in the chat rooms of Kik posing as 13- and 14-year-old juveniles from all over Hampton Roads and all over the country,” Lacy said. “Scout is another one that we have had luck with.”
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Whisper is another app that is on their radar as being potentially dangerous for minors.
“Whisper is an anonymous social media app, but you can make a post and then people can anonymously comment on that,” Lacy said. “Typically, those conversations may start on Whisper, and then they go to Google Voice — or kids are using WhatsApp. Kids are [also] using Signal [and] Telegram.”
He says predators often coerce kids to move between apps because it is more difficult to track.
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Another problem is the sheer number of apps that exist. Older apps are constantly coming out with updates and newer ones are being downloaded quickly.
“In a matter of a week, an app can spread across several thousand kids, and then that's just in your little community,” Lacy added.
Often, by the time parents and guardians are aware of how an app works, the kids have moved onto a new one. Other apps, like Calculator, are hidden in plain sight.
It looks like a calculator, but when you click inside of it, there are other apps within it. It’s almost like a vault of secret information.
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“You can hide photos of yourself that you're sending. You can hide conversations that you're having — with people that you probably shouldn't be having,” Lacy warned.
Lacy says if you see two calculator apps on a phone, that’s a good indication that one is not real.
I'm following through on this after Katherine Currin told me about Calculator last year. She is managing partner at Morris, Currin, & O'Keefe in Norfolk and a mom of two.
She told me she limits her kid’s usage of technology because she knows the dangers, emphasizing that parents need to have oversight.
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“When it's online, and a lot of times, it's unknown by adults, these things can get out of hand pretty quickly. And kids don't necessarily know how to or want to ask for help,” said Currin.
Lacy says parents should download a third-party monitoring system to watch children's devices. Most companies will compile the information and share it in an easy-to-read report, which can be helpful for guardians who are less tech-savvy.
“Be nosy, be involved, be in your kids' phones. If you're going to set up or allow them to have accounts, see if there is a parental version of that account,” Lacy said.
Click here for resources from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
