daniel chigunwe
Fraud Insight
THE internet is full of beautiful and useful things, but it can become a dangerous place if we don’t know how to use it properly and safely!
Are you facing a problem or threat online?
Don’t stay alone
Talk to your family and ask for their help. If you are not comfortable talking to them, talk to a teacher, a friend you trust, or a specialist.
Talk to your family and ask for their help. If you are not comfortable talking to them, talk to a teacher, a friend you trust, or a specialist from the child’s free helpline.
Talk to your family and ask for their help. If you are not comfortable talking to them, talk to a teacher, a friend you trust, or a specialist from a child’s free helpline.
Don’t go further
You may be under threat such as “Send me information about your family or I will beat you” or “Send me more pictures or I will tell your family”, do not respond to these messages so that no more problems occur.
Keep evidence
Make sure to take screenshots and recordings as much as possible, especially if you are under threat.
Learn
Learn how to report hacked accounts or abusing photos and videos here and basics of online safety here.
Parents and Teachers
Your children will face different challenges every day, but the only constant should be your presence and your willingness to listen and help them with unconditional love!
What are the warning signs that my child is being cyberbullied?
Drastic change in the use of devices (sudden increase or decrease).
Begins to avoid several social situations.
Displays extreme sadness, loss of interest and isolation of people and activities.
Starts to become secretive by hiding screens when others are near.
Sudden deactivation of social media accounts or the creation of new ones.
Why do children do cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying is often driven by a bully’s need to entertain or draw attention due to boredom and having a large spare time with little or no parental supervision.
Also, the motivation is feeling angry, frustrated, or seeking revenge because of jealousy or past problems.
As the motivations differ, solutions and suggestions for responses also differ for each case.
My son’s classmates are cyberbullying him because of a video he posted on a social networking website, what should I do?
Encourage him not to respond, as this will increase the attention and power that the bullies seek.
Take screenshots of abusive comments to communicate with the parents of these children and the school or team management.
Report all offensive comments.
If the child has severe psychiatric symptoms, immediately refer to a psychiatrist and call the child’s helpline
Someone is blackmailing my daughter with a private photo of hers, what should I do?
Listen quietly to your daughter’s story. Avoid losing your temper or blaming her so she will feel safe to share more details.
If there are other parties involved (such as your daughter’s friend), contact her and listen to the story from her side.
Postpone your comments on your daughter’s behaviour that led to this problem (such as trusting the wrong person), prioritise finding a solution and helping her as a priority.
If the image is posted on social media, report it immediately and learn how to do so.
Golden rules for staying safe online
Do not fall for tricks
Not everything on the internet is real. Differentiating between what is real and what is not is one of the most important lessons of internet safety that we learn through experience, research and the help of those who are more experienced than us.
Beware of scams
It is important not to trust any offers that appear unrealistic and too good to be true, such as “winning a grand prize” or “getting a gift for free”.
There are popular frauds and scams, for example: receiving a message from an entity that claims to be credible requesting personal information or bank account details. Always remember to check the authenticity of the websites and that they are not false copies trying to trick you.
Learn how to make a strong password
Make it memorable yet avoid using personal information like names or birthdays.
Use a mix of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers.
Do not use the same password on multiple sites. Create a few different variations of the same password for different accounts.
Share carefully
News/information/stories (whether good or bad) quickly go viral online. Therefore, you must ensure that the content (such as photos, news, and videos) is authentic and appropriate before posting. – UNICEF.org
Online Reporter