Sexual Predator Tries To Lure 8-Year-Old Through Popular Phone App

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You never know what’s hiding around the corner. There are many amusing available apps and their users are mostly kids. Parents should be aware that some of these apps can be possibly dangerous. This is a story of a mom from Melbourne, Australia, whose daughter Charlie, a young 8-year-old, was the target of an online sexual predator.

The little girl was playing with a popular app that allows children to record themselves while singing with famous stars. They can also share it with friends. Luckily, Alicia was monitoring her daughter’s iPad and after a few alarming messages from the predator, she went to the police.

Alicia explained to news.com.au :

“A notification popped up saying it was from ‘The Real Justin Bieber,’ and I was like ‘Oh, who is that?'”

“The message had Justin Bieber’s photo on the screen, and it looked very real and well done.”

Soon, the messages became perverted.

“The first message said ‘Who wants to win a 5-minute video call with me [Bieber]. The next message said ‘All you need to do is send me a photo of you naked, or of your vagina.”

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Disgusting, right? Fortunately, Alicia recognized the danger. The last message is absolutely the worst:

“I knew it was a professional groomer as soon as the final message popped up, because it was really encouraging her to send a photo. It read ‘Lots of girls send me these pics all the time and I will never tell anyone you sent one.'”

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She told everything to the policemen. They told her it was almost impossible to trace the predator.

Like any other parent, Alicia is thankful nothing evil happened to her daughter. But, the point is – she was there, checking her child’s actions in the virtual world. Also, it’s really helpful she shared this story with other parents.

Keep in mind that every time your child is online so is the predator.

Common Sense Media shares the next tips in order to help parents to keep their children safe:

1. Don’t give out personal information.

2. Never send pictures to strangers.

3. Keep passwords private.

4. Don’t download anything without permission.

5. Tell a parent or grown-up if you receive strange or mean messages.

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