The Police Bureau calls on parents and guardians this Thursday to avoid posting photos and videos on social networks with graphic or personal information of underage students, including the school uniform and their belongings, a practice that has been become a tradition for some parents at the beginning of the academic semester.
According to the director of the Cybercrime Division of the Police, Lieutenant Luis F. Maldonado Miranda, the images supply pieces of information, such as the name of the student and the school campus, his physical features and his voice, his daily clothing and belongings, among others that can be used by pedophiles to gain access to the minor and by fraudsters to fake kidnappings and ask for money for the supposed ransom of minors.
“Fraud schemes and fraud attempts over the phone are based on information obtained on social networks. People who expose a lot of information on social platforms can be victims of extortion: the criminal usually uses the photo or video to describe to the minor and give credibility to their requests. We have seen cases in which, through artificial intelligence, they can even manipulate the images and imitate the voice of the student asking their parents or guardians for help”said the police officer.
See how it works and how you can report a complaint to the Department of Education.
“We call to avoid the dissemination of images of minors and to be cautious in the use of the Internet in response to the proliferation of images of students in family, academic and social environments on the networks at the beginning of each academic term. This has been become a habit that can have negative consequences, particularly when we consider that they can fuel other forms of cybercrime”exposed for his part, the Police Commissioner, Antonio López Figueroa.
Maldonado Miranda explained that, in general terms, the cybernetic cases that are most reported are intrusion into personal peace, which is the use of a means to utter threatening, obscene or lewd language to a person, and fraud.
So far in 2023, 93 cases of intrusion and 68 of fraud have been reported, according to what he indicated. Statistical data from previous years suggest a decrease in instances. In 2022, 186 cases of intrusion were reported; 397 in 2021 and 552 in 2020. Regarding fraud, in 2022 65 were reported; 252 in 2021 and 136 in 2020. Cases involving minors are included in these figures.
Back to school just days away: Are our public and private schools ready?
The director of Cyber Crimes of the Uniformed Forces added that, based on experience, he understands that more cases are occurring than those reported, but parents or guardians are not aware of situations of stalking, inappropriate approaches, seduction over the Internet and propositions. sexual, among others to which their children are exposed.
He also indicated that a large part of the abuses against minors occur in the family environment or close to families.
The cybercrime expert recommended parents to install a parental control app, which asks for permission to install other apps, has categories, and makes warnings about the content of games and other platforms.
