Social media is a community, and as with every community you can meet a lot of new people and make new friends. The upside of meeting people online is that you can break the boundary of physical limitation. You can make friends that live thousands of miles away and talk to them. But it can be dangerous. You could meet hackers and sexual predators over the internet. Therefore there are precautions you can take. Consider the following points.
It Is Dangerous
Your personal information might be used to find out where you live. people who are tech-savvy can figure out your exact location and come for you. If you explore dating sites, people with fake identities could ask to meet you and harm you. You could get cyber-bullied.
You Could Get Scammed
Catfishers can create profiles and befriend you with fake information. The person you are chatting with might not be who they claim to be. They could send emails or messages that once you click can hack into your computer and get access to your personal information. Even websites that seem legitimate could be set up by scammers to get your personal information.
Sexual Predators Could Approach You
Sexual predators can make fake accounts and pretend to be teenagers. They like to make friends with children and get close to them. it is important to inform your children not to give out any private information online. Sexual predators plan to lure young ones into sexual activity.
To avoid the foregoing, you should:
Monitor the amount of time you spend online and don’t let it rob you of time for more important things.
Communicate only with people you know or whose identity you can verify. Unsavory individuals regularly troll the Internet looking to exploit unsuspecting youths.
When conducting a business transaction, be cautious. Be extremely careful about giving out personal information. Otherwise, you could become a victim of fraud—or worse. If an online discussion turns toward things which are not becoming, end the conversation
