Pedophiles Find New Way Of Targeting Children

Are your children safe? Internet sexual predators seem to be everywhere, and preying on your kids. Now there is a twist… A new way to lore them in.

While the Internet chat rooms remain a breeding ground, new video games such as X-Box Live seems to be providing a new playground for pedophiles. With X-Box, users can play games, and through a home Internet connection also communicate live with other players through headsets and instant messages.

According to Team X-Box, The FBI has investigated cases where sexual predators have used game systems such as Xbox 360 to target children.

“A pedophile is talking to a child, they are gaining their trust and understanding, and then tries to engage in that next level, which is taking them from the cyber world to the physical world,” said Douglas Roden, an FBI forensic examiner.

Several cases across the country have initiated with a pedophile meeting their victim through an on-line gaming system.

There are ways to protect your children from these Internet and gaming based predators. Most experts say the best way is to simply talk to your children about Internet safety and predators, then to carefully monitor their on-line activities for the warning signs:

LARGE AMOUNTS OF TIME ON-LINE: Most kids that are victims of sexual predators spend large amounts of time on-line, particularly in chat rooms.

PRESENCE OF PORNOGRAPHY: Pornography is often used in the sexual victimization of children. Sex offenders often supply their potential victims with pornography as a means of opening sexual discussions and for seduction. Child pornography may be used to show the child victim that sex between children and adults is "normal." Parents should be conscious of the fact that a child may hide the pornographic files on diskettes from them. This may be especially true if other family members use the computer.

UNRECOGNIZED TELEPHONE CALLS: While talking to a child victim on-line is a thrill for a computer-sex offender, it can be very cumbersome. Most want to talk to the children on the telephone. They often engage in "phone sex" with the children and often seek to set up an actual meeting for real sex.

CHILD TURNS OFF SCREEN WHEN YOU ENTER THE ROOM: A child looking at pornographic images or having sexually explicit conversations does not want you to see it on the screen.

YOUR CHILD BECOMES WIDTHDRAWN FROM THE FAMILY: Computer-sex offenders will work very hard at driving a wedge between a child and their family or at exploiting their relationship. They will accentuate any minor problems at home that the child might have. Children may also become withdrawn after sexual victimization

.A Full list of prevention tips is available on the FBI’s website at http://www.fbi.gov/publications/pguide/pguidee.htm

X-Box Live is not the only gaming system that may lore your child into the web of a predator. Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 also contain some online capabilities.