Online Safety

Take a stand against online child sexual exploitation & help protect children.

Cybertip.ca

Criminals are inventive and adapt their methods in order to locate victims and access our personal information. Most online criminals are scammers trying to trick people into giving them money or account access. Sexual predators will also use the internet to locate and groom their victims.

The anonymity of the Internet is an ideal environment for committing fraud. Check out our fraud page for more information.

More and more kids are playing games online, whether it is on their phones, game consoles, tablets or laptops. It can be a great way for kids to connect with others, but it also opens them up to potential danger if they aren't aware of the risks associated to it and what they should do in any given situation.

• Implement rules, guidelines and screen time limits before you let them start to play any game
• Talk to them about posting or sharing any personal information or pictures
• Ensure your computer has firewall protection and up-to-date spyware
• Use long and strong passwords. Use upper and lower case letters, along with numbers and symbols
• Do your research. Make sure the games they play are age appropriate
• Tell your kids they can come to you if someone is bullying them, making inappropriate comments, or making them feel uncomfortable
• Teach your kids how to block someone or report inappropriate online comments or activity
• Keep the computer in a central location, not in their room
• Even if you don't let your kids play online games, they may be able to at school or at their friend's house. Make sure you still talk to them about the risks and making good decisions 

Some sexual predators use the internet and social media to look for their victims. Once they have found a victim, they communicate with them to gain their trust and "become friends". They may then request sexually explicit images and videos or try to arrange a meeting with the victim.

When talking to people you do not know online remember that anyone can pretend to be someone else on the internet. People will lie about anything including their:

• Age
• Sex
• Location
• Interests
• Intentions

If someone you meet online wants to meet in person, you should:

• Tell someone about the person; your parents, friends, or anyone else you trust
• Tell someone where you are going (this applies to adults and youths)
• Meet for the first time in a public place like a coffee shop or restaurant
• Bring someone with you

Do not give out too much information. Use your first name only and do not tell them where you live or go to school. Only add people you know to your social networks.

Cyberbullying is a form of bullying that occurs over the internet. Cyberbullying can affect victims very differently and it may be very difficult for a victim to get away from the bullying. It can happen at school, work and at home. Cyberbullying involves using the internet or social media to target a person.

Social media sites and apps are very popular. The design of social media makes it easy to share our lives with others. Be careful that you are not sharing with the wrong people.

• Choose a strong password (and do not tell it to anyone)
• Activate privacy and security settings
• Keep everything private so only you and your friends can see it

• Criminals can use the location settings to track your movements
• Disable the location settings on your smartphone, tablet and computer
• If active, every picture you take will have the GPS data attached to it and someone could use it to find out where you took the picture

• Ignore messages from people you do not know
• Do not follow links from people you do not know
• Block or ignore people you do not know or people who are harassing you

• Always think that whatever you post will be around forever
  • Deleting a post or picture may not delete all records of it
  • Things you post become the property of the website or app in many cases
  • People could have copied the post, downloaded the picture, or taken a screenshot
  • Even Snapchat (where the pictures or video delete after ten seconds) stores images and users can screenshot your picture or record your video before it deletes

• It is easy for someone to use a small amount of information to find out everything about you (e.g., if you make your workplace public, a customer could see your name tag and with just your first name and workplace, find you on social media)
• Never make your birthdate public; scammers trying to steal your identity will not get far without it
• Do not have your school on your public profile

• Be very careful with dating apps
  • Apps like Tinder are often used to arrange dates or casual sexual encounters
  • They can also be used by sex trade workers to sell their services
  • Do not have any inappropriate pictures on your profile
  • Do not send a message or picture you would not want everyone to see (the recipient could easily post your intimate message or picture online)
  • Arrange dates in public places and bring a friend or make it a group event
  • Never give out your exact location
  • Watch out for scammers