Sex predators move onto games consoles
Parents unaware of new threat
IN-GAME COMMS have brought a whole new layer of fun to many multi-player console games, but parents may be unaware that sexual predators, who have more commonly used traditional Internet chat sites to groom their victims, are moving onto games consoles.
"Child predators are migrating from traditional methods to alternate media," Detective Thomas Kish of the Michigan State Police told ABC News. "They are going to places where children are."
Last year in Michigan, Adam Glenn Schroeder was charged with using World of Warcraft to lure a 12-year-old girl into having sex with him. He got 10 years.
And in Utah, another adult gamer-player lured a 12-year-old boy into having sex, according field commander of the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Lt. Jessica Farnsworth. She warns that perverts make contact with kids, "groom them and then try to move off the game."
Many multi player games on consoles like the Xbox and PS3 allow users to disguise their voices when talking to fellow gamers. And cops are going online to catch the groomers who "get a foot in the door" by befriending vulnerable children during gameplay.
Most consoles also include sophisticated email and Web browsing facilities which parents may not be aware of, apparently. µ
L'Inq
ABC
Comments
Are you stupid?
World of Warcraft as an example. Consoles.You should really stop copying other people's content.
Origional Content?
Someone hasn't read the...Rules of the internet (copy pasta’d billions of times)
21# Original content is original only for a few seconds before getting old.
22# Copypasta is made to ruin every last bit of originality.
23# Copypasta is made to ruin every last bit of originality.
24#Every repost is always a repost of a repost.
25#Relation to the original topic decreases with every single post.
26#Any topic can be easily turned into something totally unrelated.
Tabloid?
Probably one of the worst articles ive read on Inq. No questioning of the facts or how severe the problem actually is. The headline and text looks more like something a tabloid would write.C'mon Inq, you can do better that that... Its your witty and common sense approach to news/rumors that I enjoy.
X-box live is no place for a kid.
Given what kind of language is used on halo 3, there shouldn't be anyone under the age of 18 on it. I have heard triple XXX remarks about sexuality and other clearly inappropriate topics.Use parental restrictions for your kids you dumb parents! Know who they are talking to! Be a parent, not their friend.