Virtual Kidnapping – Unleashing The Growing Online Scam

These days, parents are panic about the virtual kidnapping of the child. You always want to remain informed that your child is safe. Today, this form of kidnapping is a popular online scam, where nobody is actually abducted but there is an abduction threat. Currently, this is one of the scariest things that teenagers go through on the web. You need to follow certain web safety rules in order to safeguard children from such a situation. Not only that you have to keep a check that your child abides by the rules.

What Is Virtual Kidnapping?

Virtual kidnapping is a kidnapping technique where online abductors focus on rich families and make fake ransom calls for their children. But in reality, the children are not in their captivity. This is not constrained to any locality or country. Anyone across the world can conduct a kidnapping scenario with anyone else. Here are some of the essential terms associated with virtual kidnapping:

• The virtual kidnappers are the ones who are web fraudsters. They first try to obtain data related to their targets like where you live and work. Most of their targets are from well-off families. Sometimes they may use strategies like a fake lottery and obtain your data.
• Usually, kids are on target as they are not very careful about sharing their passwords with their friends. Besides that, they don’t use a secure sign-in which makes them prone to the danger of getting targeted by virtual kidnappers.
• The kids who are social networkers are targeted first or sometimes the families who reside in a new country for work purposes. Well-off families are on target as it becomes easier to extract money from them at short notice.

Who Are the Target Groups?

Once you know what is virtual kidnapping you must understand who are their easy targets. If you feel that you can be their target or your child may become the possible target then take necessary steps to protect your child as well as your family. You should always ensure that your child follows basic safety measures while using the internet. The following are the most common target groups:

• The families who are immigrants are usually in their target as they may not be aware of such frauds and easily get abducted by the kidnappers.
• Children who are active on social media accounts, often share their personal information publicly. This enables the kidnappers to obtain the information and then attack their families.
• The students who came from other countries to study abroad are often from well-off companies and hence that makes them prone to abduction by the virtual kidnappers.

Why Do You Need to Beware of Virtual Kidnapping?

Commonly, virtual kidnappings are not genuine and are just to trick parents. But it may cause significant damage to your stress level. You may undergo emotional turmoil when you receive such calls and that will take a long time to recuperate. Due to such incidents, you will always feel that your child is not safe. So, you need to remain to beware of such a kidnapping situation in order to protect yourself from getting trapped. Here are the ways by which you can remain beware of virtual kidnapping:

1. Check your child’s mobile phone regularly

Whenever your child receives a call about virtual kidnapping, you should check the facts. Normally, children do not realize the importance of things. You need to protect the safety of your children. In addition, tell your children that unverified phone calls must not be trusted to avoid threats.

2. Keep calm

The kidnapper tries to say something like this, and you may panic. In this case, keeping calm is essential. You must take a deep breath before you can answer the call.

3. Have a common code language

You can share a password with your children and let them speak the password when they encounter any problems. When the kidnapper calls you, ask your child to provide a verification code. If they cannot provide you with code, then you can safely treat it as a virtual kidnapping.

How to Avoid Virtual Kidnapping?

Certainly, no parent in this world will want to face any sort of kidnapping situation be it virtual or real. If you want to avoid virtual kidnapping you must follow some essential steps. Only when you take enough precaution towards this situation, you can prevent it from arising. The most important measure is that you should always install a monitoring app that will help you to track the activities and thus you can take the required steps whenever it is essential. Here are the measures that you must follow to avoid virtual kidnapping:

1. Stay connected with your child

You must share a good relationship with your child. This will enable you to know about even small details of your child. They can frankly discuss with you the online threats that they have received.

2. Use a monitoring tool

Installing a monitoring tool like iKeyMonitor will enable you to find out whether your child had a conversation with strangers. Besides that, you have the option to block any stranger on various online platforms. You can even use the tool to read all the chat messages and find out any suspicious message the child might have received.

---

Therefore, being safe on the online platform is the best way to safeguard yourself and your child from the situation of virtual kidnapping. You should always ensure that your child never shares their personal information like passwords on online platforms. Educating children about the increasing digital crimes will safeguard them against crimes. So, keep educating your child and make use of monitoring tools like iKeyMonitor to check that they are following all the safety measures.