You may be home from school because of COVID-19, but that doesn't mean you're safe from traffickers trying to contact you through Social Media and Video Games.
Here are a few realistic steps you can take to stay safe from human traffickers without deleting social media and trashing your video games.
Transcript:
"Hello, my name is Au'Vonnie Alexander and I'm a Youth Specialist at United Against Human Trafficking.
One thing we want you to know during this Global Pandemic of COVID-19 and throughout the year is how to stay safe online.
As technology evolves more rapidly, so do child traffickers.
A lot of times, traffickers build relationships with their victims over days or weeks to gain their trust. Many times, they look for youth that are vulnerable, online, and seem like they don't have anything going on.
Being a 43 Billion $ Industry, while these techniques have been seen on social media platforms, gaming platforms have often been overlooked.
With trafficking, it can be any kind of social media platform: Tik Tok, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, Facebook. Right now, Tik Tok has been a main source of entertainment for teenagers while school is being done remotely.
What gaming platforms? Fortnite, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and even Minecraft! Fortnite is even the number one games in the country. With that, you have to be very careful. There have been cases reported of boys playing with people online that they don't know, going online with them, and then being trafficked.
What can you do during COVID-19, through social distancing and social isolation to stay safe online?
Protect your personal information: Block it. Zip it. Flag it.
Block people who send you nasty messages and don't open unknown links or attachments. When you're playing games online, make sure you're talking to people that you actually know.
Keep your personal stuff private and think about what you do, say, and post online.
Lastly, flag up with someone you trust if anything upsets you or someone asks to meet you offline.
We want to make sure that all youth are safe during this time. Thank you for listening!