Your child shared personal details or someone asked your child for personal information.
1. Explain to your child that you have been notified for the second time that they shared personal information in the game or someone asked them to share their details.
2. Verify with your child which details they shared and explain to them that sharing personal information isn’t a part of the game.
3. Explain to your children which topics are considered sensitive and should never be shared with strangers: address, telephone number, email address, photos, and passwords.
4. Let them know they should never share photos/videos of themselves with a stranger. If they feel uncomfortable with the ongoing conversation in the game, they should come to you and share what happened.
5. Ask your child if they know the gamer who asked for the information. Is he/she a friend? A local friend or someone they met through the game? Or is it someone they do not know/ a stranger?
6. Emphasize that you are asking these questions to keep them safe and to raise their awareness about the risks. In some cases, gamers pretend to be someone else and try to trick others into sharing personal information to harm them so they can steal their treasures in the game or steal their identity.
7. Explain to your children that If someone is suggesting talking in a different app they need to refuse and come and tell you.
8. If you’re talking with a younger child, tell them that it might be confusing because other gamers can sound nice and may seem like they are trying to help or offer currency in the game but even if you feel like you know them, they are strangers, and it is not safe to share personal information with strangers.
9. If you’re talking with a pre-teen (9-12), teach them about online predators. Explain to them they may pretend to be their friend, and sound fun and friendly, and can act friendly for a long time before they try to harm someone. But if a stranger is asking for their phone number or to switch to a different platform it can be dangerous and your child should feel comfortable letting you know.
See this article for more tips for your conversation. “How to Talk to Teens About Dealing with Online Predators”https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/how-to-talk-to-teens-about-dealing-with-online-predators
Recommendations written by Kidas Experts.