Something SERIOUS to bear in mind

I just googled my first and last name together and got a heap of geneology sites about my ancestors. I googled my NR username and its the title of a book!

This is a very good thread though and even though I don't have children I'm taking the advice on board ;)
 
Just read Portias thread and its hit home :eek: I've saved my home location as "Home"

*legs it outside to car to change satnav settings*
 
rhiannon264 said:
If I google my first and last name together I'm the first result google comes up with. :eek:

Another thing I've realised is that even if you are really careful if there are other people who also know you on a forum then they might mention something that you would have kept quiet. I find it very sad however that people have to hold back from sharing things and making friends just because of the odd sick few. :(
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this is very true - you can edit your own posts but not others...
 
It's not just computers and other 'advanced' technology people should be wary of. The phone can lead to just as much trouble!

A few years ago when I was about 15/16 my friend was working at the yard and answered the phone to a seemingly normal call. It was a guy asking if there was anyone she know will to help exercise his girlfriend's horses while she was pregnant, he described the horses and she didnt suspect anything unusual in his enquiry. At the time we were willing to ride just about anything so she said that she would be able to help out, he then asked if she had a friend who would be able to help as well (as there were 2 horses) and should said she did, refering to me. He then asked for my details and here's the stupid bit, she gave them my home phone number. After she'd given out my details apparently the conversation changed and he started asking questions that had ovbiously suggestive meanings. She hung up but was pretty shaken up about it.

Before I know what was going on I got a call at home, by chance I answered the phone and the guy was threatening and told me he was watching me and i shouldnt move or do anything. I told him not to be so stupid because the curtains were closed so how on earth could he be watching me! I wasnt in the slightest bit bothered by it but I told my mum and i think she was far more concerned than i was. Anyway, we then got a call from the yard explaining what had happened. We gave statements to the police but nothing came of it of course.

I'm sure this sort of thing happens at riding school everywhere and it's not as if you can hide the phone number. But we did all get a lecture about not giving out personal details to anyone we didnt know. so i guess the morale of the story, is be careful with personal details and not just on computers, especially around horses!
 
Everyone really needs to be careful whatever age you are. You just dont know who you're chatting to. Ok on this forum it's pretty certain you're all horse people (but even so you have to be on your guard) as there's no guarantee they're not pervy horse people!!! I have met peeps from this website but we met in a very public place.
It's amazing we have progressed so far as to have all this fascinating technology and yet have never been so unsafe as when you're using it!!!! I despair of the human race.:eek:
 
notpoodle said:
yikes!

luckily, i'm well the wrong side of 25 ....

but, on a similar note, careful with your bank details etc as well! identity theft happens to everyone :eek: i had my bank card cloned in december and some nice person took £900 out of my account from an ATM in MARRACECH!!!

:eek:

Julia
x
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Ooh, I had that - tluckily they only managed to get £40 - from an ATM in Morocco! I've never been to Morocco! Was just before Xmas too :rolleyes:
 
coss said:
pleased don't tell me you go on the internet on the full account :eek: so many problems can be caused that way....
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titch_ said:
what do you mean?
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with xp and vista you can create an administrative and a limited account... you said your mum has a limited account which implies you have an admin account...
if a virus gets through your firewall (which is possible, there is no firewall which is 100% efficient including the ones you pay for!) it will usually be a *.exe file which is an executable (sp?) file. if you activate it in the limited account it can't really do anything as you don't have the "privaledge" (spelling is bad today :eek:) to do that... sometimes things ask if they can be opened and its easy to make a mistake or for viruses to just take over. if you're on an admin account you do have the privaledge to let things happen, limited stop that which is very useful! I haven't explained it at all well but one thing that is highly recommended is that you only use the internet on a limited account, a lot of people create a limited account (like your mum's) that is called internet and thats all they use it for.
 
I've eventually read through all this and its very true, but at the same time, I don't think we all need to majorlly panic, just keep our wits about us, particularly the older ones amoung us.
Think back to the last time you went out and had a couple of beverages, I bet you told at least one person as much as you've said here and thought nothing of it-not to mention the random photos. Provided you don't then jump into that persons arms and run away with them you can probably put some safety barriers in there, but you need to remember that you must do the same online.

I remember a few years back (I must have been about 14) some woman rang up very upset asking for me. My mum exlained I was out and asked if she could help. Apparently I was havign an affair with her OH and had split them up whiklst she was carrying his baby. Now I have NO idea who that was, the only thing we could guess was that it was someone I'd got chatting to online, I think in my innocence and with a gaggle of friends around me I may have given out my number, and she knew my name (not hard to assertain). Thankfully nothing ever came of it, mainly I guess because it wasn't true, but it was a lesson well learnt.
 
Vicki&Milo said:
I've eventually read through all this and its very true, but at the same time, I don't think we all need to majorlly panic, just keep our wits about us, particularly the older ones amoung us.
Think back to the last time you went out and had a couple of beverages, I bet you told at least one person as much as you've said here and thought nothing of it-not to mention the random photos. Provided you don't then jump into that persons arms and run away with them you can probably put some safety barriers in there, but you need to remember that you must do the same online.

I remember a few years back (I must have been about 14) some woman rang up very upset asking for me. My mum exlained I was out and asked if she could help. Apparently I was havign an affair with her OH and had split them up whiklst she was carrying his baby. Now I have NO idea who that was, the only thing we could guess was that it was someone I'd got chatting to online, I think in my innocence and with a gaggle of friends around me I may have given out my number, and she knew my name (not hard to assertain). Thankfully nothing ever came of it, mainly I guess because it wasn't true, but it was a lesson well learnt.
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i've had that... a random call on my mobile, passed it to my dad and the woman claimed i'd been having an affair, my dad said it couldn't be true because i was 9 (i was older than that but anyway)... told her she had the wrong number. i don't give out my mobile number to people unless i know them quite well/have known them for a while so it was just mis dialling or random call (had far too many of those :mad: )
 
The mobile calls could poss just be your mates doing those prank call things - the ones where they listen in on you being told you got my daughter pregnant, ran over my dog etc!
although I do totally agree with all said here, I also think it's important not to frighten people totally, just air caution.
I think everyone has prob put something on the net they shouldn't have however after reading this people will be alot more cautious.
Don't be frightened - just be safe and careful!

:D
 
Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but the subject has cropped up on a different thread and I really do think its important.

Just as a cautionary tale....
I'm also on a band forum, which like this is run as 'family friendly' with firm but fair moderaters and an age range from about 12 upwards. Like this site, its a pretty closed community being a specialist interest group, and people can get lulled into a false sense of security and start thinking they really 'know' people they meet online.

This time last year one of the members of that forum was convicted of using computers and other media to 'groom' an under-16 and start a relationship with her. He went to jail for a couple of months and on release was active on the forum again. All the time he was active on the forum he had access to a lot of personal information about youngsters, and was able to contact them privately if he wished. The site owner was advised, and now the guy's been banned - but who's to say he won't pop up somewhere else and use a forum to groom his next target?

Stop and think - we have NO way of knowing wether or not there's people like that on here. So isn't it a good idea to assume there are, and censor the information you give out about yourself accordingly?
 
Ooh, boy scary. makes me wish I could just delete my account and start over.... I dread to think what people could find out about me. :eek:
 
Eek!

My twin sister (aged nearly 17 now) last year was introduced to some guy by a friend (who has had relationships with up to 25-year-olds :-/) who they met in town. I think they chatted via MSN and text and she felt she trusted him because her friend had introduced them (her friend didn't actually know the guy either). My parents suspected and were shocked and angry that she could have been so stupid. For all I know, he could have been a groomer - was at least v sexual and dodgy - but nothing came of it because after that initial meet she broke all contact with him.

Scary!

It's so easy just to say "yeah well, these things happen but are very rare ... it would neevr happen to me, I'm careful..." etc, but when these things do happen and perves/groomers get involved, do people really believe that it is caused by the victim's stupidity/openness? It can happent o anyone and everyone, and you have to be more than careful. Not doing so poses a great risk.

I recently got talking to someone via facebook and MSN who was a 'friend' of my older (by 6 years) sister. I had never heard of him and she couldn't really remember who he was, but the very 1st time I spoke to him he was asking me where I live, saying that I was cute and quoting from my Facebook profile, saying what he thought of the pctures ... I was very wary! I lied about where I lived, but he knew and probed further. Then he claimed that he was "not some stalker or anything!" ... my 'sister's friend'?! Will never speak to him again for sure.

x
 
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It's scary stuff :(

I heard of someone who got talking to someone she met on a teenage chatroom site & this guy said he was 17, blue eyes, blonde hair, showed her a pic etc and she thought he was pretty real! She thought he was harmless, he started asking her about wher she lived, her school & adress etc, I can't remember but i tink it was her adress she told him & she started recieving letters in the post, threatening ones, threatening to brun her house down or kill her family & that 'i know where you live'

They then reported his username to this site (they suspected it was him) and it was found that this '17 year old blue eyed blonde haired teenage boy' was infact a '50-odd balding man' who has been grooming her then threatening her when she wouldn't 'do' anything for him over webcam.

It's very scary and people should be aware of their details :)
 
Also, a few years back I posted an advert on a horse website looking for a loan horse. I put my mobile number on, and even though they convert the number somehow to make it look different from the real number, I still recieved a call from a witheld number. I answered it, and it was a man. He said
'Are you still looking for a horse?'
'Yes'
'I have one'
'Can you tell me about it please?'
'*blahdiblah, name of horse age height...'
'Aww!'
'So when can you come down to ride him?
Then it all turned into something rather rude...not about riding a horse but about riding something else :eek:

I hung up & deleted my mobby number from the site, but it's all just too easy to get carried away, not realise the dangers of who you are talking to & land yourself in some knee deep danger!
 
I sold a pony via the paper before internet was widespread and got a wierdo ringing up saying was it good with children (OK Q), did I have any children (alarm bells), what age and what did they wear (I rang off freaked) ... unfortunately there are a few pervs out there who make you doubt the nice folk .... :(
 
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