Many districts in metro Atlanta return to school this week, and the FBI is warning about posting back-to-school photo and bad actors on the internet.
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The FBI said parents may unintentionally include information that could fall into the hands of bad actors, including where children live or where they wait for the bus.
Criminals can use this information to target children, and private social media accounts don’t necessarily protect against this, the FBI said.
“An online person is very different, that is a different friend,“ FBI Atlanta Special Agent Marlo Graham told WSB Radio. ”A friend who shouldn’t have access to your home address, they shouldn’t have access to your phone number, and they shouldn’t know when your family is going on vacation.”
Graham advises parents to keep an eye on what their children are doing online and who they are communicating with.
Georgia leads the nation in sextortion, according to the FBI, with victims as young as 7 years old.
“I tell young people all of the time, I’m like if anyone ever asks you for something indecent online, it is not another child, that is not what kids do,” Graham told WSB Radio.
The FBI urges parents to remind kids to tell an adult if contacted by a suspicious person online.
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