A mother stopped sharing images of her children online after her family was “digitally kidnapped” by a fraud posing as her. Let’s take a closer look at digital kidnapping and how a mother became a victim of a social media thief.
What is Digital Kidnapping?
When someone photographs pictures of a child while pretending to be them or their parents, this is known as digital kidnapping. Digital kidnapping exposes sensitive information that hurts the child’s life, makes college acceptance difficult or exposes the child to bullying. In rare cases, a kidnapper may pose as a parent, causing supporters to believe they are the child’s parents.
Case of “Digital Kidnapping”:
Meredith Steele, 35, shared a family photo on Instagram with her husband, Mark Steele, and their two children, a son and a daughter. She garnered 5,000 followers after publishing stock photos of their lives. Adults posing as friends or authorities may also collect information about children and use it in true crimes such as kidnapping.
A False Identity was discovered:
She was scared when she saw that a bogus profile had cloned her photographs and placed them on an account with hundreds of families. Meredith was shocked to discover that strangers had republished photos of priceless family moments she had shared on her own Instagram with new identities and comments. Every image the mother uploaded of her family was utilised on the other account to show hundreds of people bogus outings for lunch or school runs.
“Mother Blog Culture”:
Meredith immediately reported the account to Instagram but alleged they did not delete it. As a result, she deactivated the account so they couldn’t access it and deleted any traces of her children on social media. Meredith expressed concern about “mummy blog culture” and online oversharing. She still has active social media accounts and 918,2k TikTok subscribers, but she refuses to post or allow her children to post on social media.
How did the Fake Account was Founded?
Meredith was unaware of the false account, which had hundreds of followers until a friend pointed it out to her. In June, the mother tweeted a family photo with the restaurant labelled as the location while celebrating her child’s preschool graduation. Because she had previously worked there, she was friendly with the staff, and a waitress who was going through photographs related to the restaurant recognised Meredith twice. The phoney Meredith took the same photo as the genuine Meredith, added their message about going out to dinner, and put it in the same area. After the server delivered the receipt, Meredith noticed a complete account with over 30 images of her family.
Who is the Victim of Digital Kidnapping?
Meredith alleges she was a victim of “digital kidnapping,” a method in which someone steals your internet data and uses it to develop their websites. Suspects employ role-playing to build a fraudulent internet identity using the identities of their victims. Meredith will now only post images of the backs of her children’s heads online and will never indicate her whereabouts in real-time; instead, she will divulge her location at least a few hours after she has left. She no longer agrees to her children being photographed for school, summer camps, or any other extracurricular activity.
Cyber Security Warning:
Parents were issued a strong warning about protecting their children before Christmas. During this time of year, your children may be prominently featured on your social media, whether you upload photographs of them dressed in holiday clothing or chronicle trips to see Santa Claus. However, the cyber security pros at VPNOverview have highlighted seven risks of uploading pictures and videos of your children online. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre were founded to protect children from online sexual exploitation. Parents can contact CEOP to report any internet grooming or sexual abuse. VPNOverview’s website contains further details.
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