Sextortion is one of the fastest-growing threats facing kids online — and it rarely begins with a stranger hacking a phone. It usually starts with a friendly conversation, built on compliments and trust, before it turns coercive. Offenders target teens of every background, and criminal groups increasingly focus on boys in their mid-teens. The tactic …
Online games are where many kids spend their free time — and where online predators quietly work. Chat-enabled multiplayer games let strangers reach children directly. A 2026 Norton report found that more than half of parents whose kids play chat-enabled games said their child had talked to a stranger. Nearly three in ten said that …
Catfishing happens when someone builds a fake online identity to trick another person into trusting them. Too often, that someone is an adult predator and the target is a child or teenager. A fake profile is surprisingly easy to create. A predator can copy photos from a public account, borrow a real teen’s name and …
Almost everything a teen does online leaves a trace. Posts, photos, comments, and even the apps they quietly use become a digital footprint that is nearly impossible to erase. Too many young people discover this too late, after a picture or a careless phrase resurfaces in a college admission, a job search, or a conversation …
No parent wants to imagine it. But if a predator has reached your child online, the way you respond in the first hours matters more than almost anything else. Panic, blame, or shutting down every device is understandable — and often the exact opposite of what protects your child or preserves the evidence. The most …
A single reused password is all a scammer needs to start a chain reaction. It is called credential stuffing, and it is one of the easiest ways criminals break into accounts. A login leaked in one data breach gets tried on dozens of other sites. If the same email and password protect your streaming account, …
Online predators are changing how they operate. Instead of luring kids to meet in person, many now run a faster, crueler crime called sextortion. The FBI reports a large jump in cases where an adult tricks a young person into sending explicit images, and then threatens to share them unless the victim sends more pictures, …
Every family is different, and every child matures at their own pace. But the risks kids face online are real and growing. A recent study found that over half of parents whose kids play chat-enabled games said their child had communicated with a stranger, and 29% said that stranger encouraged the child to continue the …
Online grooming rarely begins with anything scary. In most cases it starts with kindness — a compliment on a post, a shared interest, a friend request that seems harmless. That is exactly what makes it so hard to recognize. The person building trust slowly is often careful, patient, and good at seeming like a friend. …
Your browser is the front door to everything your family does online, and scammers know it. One of the fastest-growing threats facing parents today is phishing, and the messages have gotten scarily convincing. Phishing is a method where criminals disguise themselves as trusted companies, banks, schools, or even your child’s app. The goal is simple: …