Online chat rooms have taken a pretty bad wrap in the past several years since their widespread use throughout the internet. This has raised some questions about safety online with chat room users and what should be done to protect yourself from harm online.
Chat rooms have many obvious benefits,
being social interaction and the entertaining nature of this form of instant communication is a great way to stay in contact with friends and relatives online. Sydney and Melbourne chat rooms are commonly used with online dating sites but the more common social media sites are using chat for encouraging growth in communication online. But let’s not forget that chat rooms can have some serious down sides at which others will pay the price:
1. Cyber bullying rates are up in 2012 by as much as 50% in the metropolitan areas of most major cities in Australia, particularly Melbourne and Sydney, since school and university social groups are using various social media forms like facebook or twitter to convey group or individual “opinion” about others.
2. Predatory behavior by adults to groom younger adolescents, even children, is a practice by people of harmful intent which police and other law enforcement authorities find very hard to stamp out of society, but which the rise of online chat rooms help facilitate.
3. Credit card fraud, identity fraud and general internet scams proliferate the internet and using an online chat room to give fictitious information out anonymously in the hope of gaining sensitive information from others is on the rise among Sydney and Melbourne chat rooms generally.
So what can you do to protect yourself from these online perils which threaten to undermine your online safety and security during your interactions with others?
There are several measures you can take to keep yourself from harm’s way. These include giving yourself greater anonymity to other people you communicate with online, should you feel insecure, or if you have younger people or children in your family who may be particularly vulnerable to others:
1. Never give out your name, address, phone number or sensitive information like credit card numbers, bank account numbers, passwords or important and private information to someone who you don’t fully know online. This information should be common sense but it’s surprising how many complaints are lodged with Sydney or Melbourne police departments reporting stalking, unusual or predatory behavior, identity theft or credit card fraud committed very soon after sensitive information has been given out in an online chat room.
2. Where possible, try to have the other person in the conversation reveal their location, name or other similar detail which helps them relate to you more information about them.
3. Video chat online is a great way to remove any anonymity from the other user online. Anyone with criminal intentions is not going to be willing to reveal themselves to you online. They will also not be willing to have any of their surroundings recognized by you from their webcam. Also, hearing someone’s voice can remove much anonymity associated with online chat rooms.
Remember, always be vigilant using Online chat rooms and make sure you are sensible with information you give out and receive. Sydney and Melbourne often have the highest rates of internet crime and it’s up to all of us to be careful online. Do your part and you should be perfectly safe.
