- Check if the app or game your child is using has a direct message or chat function, and see if they are talking to people they know and trust or people they only know online.
- Consider disabling the chat if not necessary for the game or app. If this isn’t possible, ensure your child knows to keep the chat about the game only and to avoid answering any personal questions.
- Some apps or games have privacy settings that can be changed to limit who can contact your child. We recommend implementing this where possible. However, keep in mind these can sometimes be changed, so we also suggest a regular privacy ‘check-up’ to make sure these are still in place.
- Encourage critical thinking skills with your child and explain to them that not everyone online is who they say they are.
- Someone asking your child to move to another platform or to add them as a ‘friend’ on another platform might be a sign that something isn’t right. Keep an eye out for suspicious activity and know how to block and report them.
A NSW man, 25, was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 10 years and six months, on 27 November 2024 for using various online chat forums to solicit and receive child abuse material from 24 child victims.
The victims were believed to be aged between nine and 15 years old.
Below is a sample of chat logs between the man and two of his victims:
Man: 15yo from (chat platform)?
Child: Hi, yes
Man: Ok can you send me a live full body pic of you
Man: You’re a cutie
Child: Hi
Man: Send a pic if it’s you. A live one
Child: I cant tho im in th bed
Man: Then send a gallery ne. What happened to the other account?
Child: My bro deleted it
