In UK, Children Posing As Pedophiles Online to Frighten Classmates
The Inquirer reports that British youths are signing online to sites such as Bebo and MSN and posing as middle aged pedophiles to scare classmates. Investigators thought that the reports of children being harassed were of the standard dirty-old-sexual-predator variety, but in nine separate cases, they found that the supposed pedophiles were actually classmates of the children attempting to scare them or settle rivalries.
The development is disturbing, but it does show a level of awareness and cleverness that we often assume children are incapable of. [Source: The Inquirer, Vva: Boing Boing]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt @ May 4th 2008 6:25PM
Its scary how much people underestimate us teens.
In fact, I'd say its far more likely that the "olds" get hustled on the internet for something or other (falling for scams, online dating gone wrong, etc).
You see, us kids have grown up with the internet - we're streetwise if you like to put it that way. And its not like some guy bundling you into a van off the street - if someone looks dodgy you can usually spot it straight away, and even if you don't you get a lot more chances before something bad happens - one anonymous sarcastic email response doesn't get you knifed.
I think the keyword lies in the title... "frighten".
If people are frightened or scared by it, that shows that they're aware right? You can be freaked out by an email in your inbox, but that on the whole means you don't reply to it.