Parents are warned not to post photos of children on their first day of school because paedophiles can track them down - here's how to keep your kids safe
Parents have been urged not to post photos of their children leaving for their first day of school on social media to keep them safe from paedophiles.
Exploitation experts said Australian families were leaving themselves open to child grooming by making public their kids' names and where they go to school.
The Australian Federal Police said parents should use the most advanced privacy settings possible if they are going to post their back-to-school photos online.
Abusers have been known to send parents messages like 'my child goes to the same school and is the same class' in a bid to get close to their family.
The Australian Federal Police has urged parents not to post photos of their children leaving for their first day of school on social media (file image)
The urgent warning comes as police uncovered child abusers stashing photos of children in their school uniform.
'Some offenders go to great lengths in order to gain access to children,' AFP Commander of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation and Child Protection Operations Hilda Sirec said.
'It is more important than ever to ensure parents, carers and our young people are educated about online safety.'
Parents can shield their children from predators by blurring photos which show logos or crests and taking steps to ensure they don't give away the name of the school.
Abusers can also find a child's date of birth from scrolling through their parents' Facebook profiles, Australian Computing Academy academic director James Curran told The Daily Telegraph.
The social media giant conceded last week its end-to-end encryption plans would make life easier for child sex abusers.
Abusers have been known to send parents who post back-to-school photos of their kids messages like 'my child goes to the same school and is the same class' (file image)
End-to-end encryption would mean only the sender and recipient of a message on the Messenger app could read or modify what has been sent in a conversation.
In a 2019 blog post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said there was a balance to be found between privacy from end-to-end encryption and protecting people.
'On balance, I believe working towards implementing end-to-end encryption for all private communications is the right thing to do,' he wrote.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR CHILDREN SAFE WHEN POSTING BACK-TO-SCHOOL PHOTOS
Keep your child’s personal information including full name and age private
Ensure the background of photos or videos doesn’t give away your address or location (and don’t post your location or ‘check in’)
Avoid posting photos in school uniform
Only share images of your children with people you know and trust
For community accounts, consider having a closed group with approved members and ensure you have strong privacy settings in place.
Source: AFP