My 12 yr old daughter was using the internet and while on it I caught her on a chat site. She had just joined the site so she hadn't posted many messages yet. To my horror, in the few she had posted she had given out enough information for anyone to find her. She had no idea she had given so much until I went through it with her.
She had used a false name but in her profile she said how old she was and where she lived. Someone on the site asked her for her email. She gave them one but it was the one we had set up for her to use with family which included her 1st and last name.
Now they had her full name, age and city where she lived. Within minutes of reading this I went in and changed the information and then contacted the site to have them remove the information, which they did.
I now wanted to know all of the sites that had been visited by her so I went into the internet history to check every site she had been to. Thank god this was the only chat site that she had posted to.
I explained to her about the dangers of the internet and how easily she gave out her information. Previous conversations had only been about the chances of bringing in a virus to our computer. To make sure she understood how dangerous the internet could be I had her read some articles on the internet about what could happen to her. I also explained that people in chat sites often lie about who they are and may not be the kids she thinks they are.
This could have ended bad, thank god it didn't.

Wow! You guys really dodged a bullet! My kids are quickly approaching the age where they will be spending more time on the computer. I will definitely monitor closely what they put out there. Thankfully for your daughter, you are a vigilant parent. This experience will be a valuable lesson for her.

Wow! You guys really dodged a bullet! My kids are quickly approaching the age where they will be spending more time on the computer. I will definitely monitor closely what they put out there. Thankfully for your daughter, you are a vigilant parent. This experience will be a valuable lesson for her.

We all need to remember that ADULTS can easily fall prey to Internet scams. Message boards can be so dangerous for adults, too. We are basically a trusting people, and too many unethical people will try to get as much information as they can from us and us it against us.

So true...everyone, no matter how old, needs to be very vigilant and careful about the information we put out and even the emails we respond to. The Internet is a wonderful thing, but, like anything else good, it can be twisted and used for nefarious purposes. Be careful, everybody!