Kids Online Safety Essentials

Your child can be “just playing a game” while also messaging strangers, joining private servers, and getting pulled into conversations you never see. That gap between what parents think is happening and what’s actually happening online is where a lot of harm starts, and it’s why we’re digging into real-world internet safety for kids with someone who investigates these cases every day.

I’m joined by Officer Blow from the Fort Myers Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit to explain what investigators are seeing right now across social media safety, online gaming chat, messaging apps, and private communities. We talk about how offenders follow kids into the platforms they already love, including Discord, Roblox, and kid-focused games like Zepeto that still include chat features. We also cover disappearing messages on apps like Snapchat and Instagram, plus encrypted messaging spaces such as Telegram and WhatsApp, and why those tools can make grooming and sextortion harder for families to spot.

We also get direct about emerging threats: AI and graphic design are showing up in child exploitation investigations, and AI-generated CSAM is still a serious crime. Most importantly, we share warning signs parents can actually use, how to keep communication open without turning into a “helicopter parent,” and the critical steps to take if something feels off. If you’re worried you’ll say the wrong thing, we also explain what not to do, including deleting chats or confronting an offender, because digital evidence can be time sensitive and can help protect a child.

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Transcript

Why Internet Safety Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to FMPB Roll Call. I'm Public Information Officer Megan Fuentes. Today we're discussing a topic that affects nearly every family: internet safety, from social media and online gaming to messaging apps and discussion forums. Children are spending more time online than ever before. To help us better understand those risks and learn how families can stay safe, I'm joined by Officer Blow from our Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, also known as ICAC. We'll discuss current online trends, what investigators are seeing in our community, warning signs parents should know, and practical steps families can take to protect children online. Roll call begins now.

What ICAC Investigators Actually Do

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Thank you for joining us. And before we dive in, can you introduce yourself and explain what ICAC is and your roles and responsibilities?

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Thank you for having me. I'm Officer Blow. I've played a few different roles here at Fort Myers PD since starting about four years ago. I'm currently one of two investigators in our ICAC unit. It stands for Internet Crimes Against Children. So our role in the simplest of terms is protecting children. We're tasked with keeping children safe, which is my favorite part of the job. Each case we work is a little bit different, but primarily it has the same end goal. We're tasked with keeping the children safe, identifying the victims, stopping the abuse, and making sure the offenders are held accountable, of course. The type of investigations that we do vary. We do things like the possession, production, or distribution of CSAM, which stands for the child sexual abuse material. We cover online enticement, sex tortion, and really any situation that would involve an adult using the internet or social media to target minors.

AI And The Rise Of New Crimes

SPEAKER_00 1:36

The internet is constantly changing. What are some of the trends you're currently seeing that concern investigators?

SPEAKER_01 1:41

So some of the current trends that are definitely becoming more popular, I think, overall, is the use of AI. So AI can be extremely useful, but it's also being used negatively, especially in our ICAT cases. We're seeing a lot of graphic design involvement in our cases as well as the use of AI in platforms like ChatGPT. A lot of people don't realize that generated CSAM is a crime, it's a felony. And we are starting to see a lot more users of the AI-generated CSAM. So that's becoming extremely popular nowadays.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Has that been hard as investigators to prove on where that comes from?

SPEAKER_01 2:22

It can be, but ChatGPT, for example, they actually do report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is where we get a lot of our information from. A lot of these platforms that do have AI in them are still reporting to law enforcement. So a lot of people may have that idea that what you're saying to ChatGPT or other AI platforms is private and more of a secret platform, but they are reporting to law enforcement as

Where Kids Are Being Targeted

SPEAKER_01 2:52

well.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

A lot of parents focus on major social media platforms, but children are communicating in many different ways online. Are there any emerging trends, apps, or online spaces parents should be paying closer attention to?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Definitely. I think that one of the biggest concerns nowadays is how quickly these offenders are adapting to the platforms that kids are using. Of course, there's social media apps that are used day-to-day, messaging apps, things like that that are not harmful or not using being used in that negative way. But there are a lot of cases where they're these adults are infiltrating the places that kids are already spending time online. A lot of our cases lately have been coming from platforms like Discord and Roblox, which those are primarily used for gaming and for kids to communicate with other kids while gaming and you know things of that nature. But the internet can be a very dangerous and scary place, and adults are getting smarter and they are infiltrating applications that are targeted for children. They're even jumping in on applications that are targeted specifically to children, gaming and other online platforms. One of the specific apps that has come up, we've actually learned about a new app within, you know, the past couple years, which is called Zippetto, which I think is a very popular app amongst kids nowadays. It's a game specifically marketed to children. But these games have a lot of chat features built in. So it's easy for adults to get on platforms that are targeted towards those children and start chatting with them and pretending that they're somebody that

Private Communities And Disappearing Messages

SPEAKER_01 4:37

they're not.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

One topic we've been hearing more about recently is online forums and private communities. Many parents may not even know these spaces exist. Can you explain what some of these forums are and why investigators are paying close attention to them?

SPEAKER_01 4:49

So when we talk about online forums and private communities, we're talking about digital spaces where people can connect outside of the more visible parts of social media. So that can include private group chats, invite-only servers like on Discord, which we had previously talked about, gaming communities like Roblox and other encrypted messaging apps like Telegram or WhatsApp. A lot of these apps like Snapchat, Instagram, they have features built in where the messages can be disappearing. So a lot of electronic service providers of all kinds, they're reporting the child exploitation and the sharing of CSAM content that's being done on their platforms. So ICAC investigators are well versed in these different platforms and are able to use the knowledge of different applications in all of their investigations as more of these online platforms are popping up in these ICAC cases. Investigators are paying attention to all different applications. It's just another way to follow leads and use all resources available to figure out who these offenders are and to, of course, better help the children.

Warning Signs Parents Can Notice

SPEAKER_00 5:57

What are some warning signs that a child may be participating in online communities that parents should know more about?

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Of course, every child is different, and the parent is going to be more familiar with their typical day-to-day behavior than, you know, a law enforcement officer that hasn't maybe met them personally. But some warning signs are definitely going to be behavioral changes. Some examples might be where a child is suddenly very protective of their electronic devices, or they're using multiple accounts or apps that maybe the parents aren't recognizing and they're communicating with different people that the parents don't know. They're not recognizing, you know, their friends' names and things like that. Also, maybe starting to get upset if they're not having that access to whether it's their devices or the internet or things like that, just noticing their behavioral switches when they are seemingly off, especially surrounding their electronic devices.

How Online Grooming Typically Starts

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Now, when we hear the term online grooming, can you explain what that means and how it typically begins?

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Online grooming is a process where someone builds trust with a child with the end goal of exploiting or abusing that child. The person may represent themselves as another young person, a supportive friend, or someone who shares interests with that child. It usually starts with something that feels very harmless, maybe a compliment, a friend request, a message about a game, just something trying to relate to that child and befriend them in a sense. But this opens up more frequent communication. The conversations begin to get more personal, gifts or money might be sent. And sometimes the child is encouraged to move to a more private application or even their cell phone numbers. So over time they'll test boundaries, asking the child to keep their conversations a secret, sending inappropriate message or messages or requesting images in return. In some cases, threats, embarrassment, or blackmail are primarily used.

SPEAKER_00 7:51

And those warning signs would typically be the same for if they're participating in online communities that parents should be aware of.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Yes, definitely. The increase of just using those devices and being more secluded from, you know, the outside uh real world in a sense.

Gaming Chat And Real Parental Controls

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Online gaming has become one of the primary ways children communicate with others. What should parents understand about the communication features that are built into today's games?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

So the communication features are becoming increasingly popular. Like we talked about with even just that Zeppetto app, which is a gaming app that should really have nothing to do with chatting. These chatting applications are becoming so popular that I think a lot of the gaming platforms and other applications that kids may use are including that chat feature. So, of course, online it's becoming increasingly easy for these offenders to portray themselves as someone they're not, whether it's pretending to be a kid or a friend or, you know, anything in that sense. So it's definitely important that parents are keeping an eye on all of their online activity, even the gaming applications that seem so harmless, they could actually be getting infiltrated in talking to these offenders online, and the parents may have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Some parents may assume that their child are only playing a game when they're actually talking with people from around the world. Why is parental involvement so important in these environments?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Parental involvement is extremely important as technology's growing. Like I said, gaming is super social nowadays. Many games include even voice chat, obviously the direct messaging, private parties. These can connect kids with people from all over the world. So it's not even necessarily just local, you know, kids that they're going to school with, things like that. It's people globally. This can be, of course, very dangerous. And there are often safety features within these games that maybe parents aren't aware of. There are, of course, parental control settings for different applications. I know YouTube specifically, they have YouTube kids application, which is obviously for kids. So it's just very important that the parents are keeping an eye on what they're doing on their devices, what kind of pictures they're taking, who they're talking to, the applications they're de that they're downloading, and making sure that they do stay involved. This doesn't necessarily mean that they need to monitor, you know, their every breath or be a helicopter parent in a sense, but definitely talk to them, ask them to teach you about these games they're playing, or, you know, play alongside them so you can kind of get a better grasp of what is really going on on these devices.

What To Do If Something Feels Off

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Yeah, playing with them is actually a really great advice to give because it gets the parent involved in what they're doing and they can hear and see the types of platforms that their child is involved with. This isn't supposed to scare parents into thinking that their child will be exploited, but to keep them aware.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Exactly. That open communication with your children is going to be uh very important for cases like this.

SPEAKER_00 10:58

What are some important conversations parents should be having with their children right now about online safety?

SPEAKER_01 11:02

So I definitely think that communication is crucial, keeping your children safe online, having that open dialogue about what your child's doing. It helps them feel more comfortable coming to you if there were an issue. And just kind of reinforcing that idea that, you know, it's not a lecturing conversation, but they're there to help. They're not going to be getting in trouble for an adult taking advantage of them, essentially. You know, kids are going to be kids, and just making sure that the child feels comfortable coming to the parent and just having an open conversation.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

If a parent believes their child may be communicating with someone suspicious online, what steps could they take?

SPEAKER_01 11:39

First and foremost, make sure your child's okay, reiterating to them that they're not in any kind of trouble, that you're there to help, and be, you know, a positive influence in this situation. Calmly asking questions, getting that general information, and then of course reporting it to law enforcement as soon as possible. Digital evidence is so important in these cases and it can be time

Mistakes That Destroy Digital Evidence

SPEAKER_01 12:03

sensitive. Are there mistakes parents sometimes make when trying to handle these situations on their own? Definitely. We've seen a lot of parents do things like taking over their child's account and trying to scare or threaten or just communicate with that offender. And of course, this is typically out of a place of care for your child and anger that someone's doing this to them, but leave it to law enforcement. You don't want to jeopardize any part of the investigation, especially if that offender gets scared or starts deleting that digital evidence. That is a huge issue as well, or just something that's becoming more common is that parents they'll just delete the chats or these pictures, images, whatever the case may be from their child's device. And these things are crucial for these investigations. It's all digital evidence. So things that are getting deleted, any usernames, conversations, photographs, every piece of that evidence is what leads investigators to the offender. So it's extremely important that the evidence stays intact. Any little chat or photo that you might not think is important might be that tiny little detail that helps piece things together for an ICAC investigator. Every investigation is unique and even those small details could save a child.

Why ICAC Cases Take Time

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Now I know these investigations are lengthy. So a lot of people hear that term ICAC and just assume it's computer work, but it is so much more than that. We work really closely with prosecutors, forensic examiners, child protective partners, and a lot of other law enforcement agencies who all have the same goal of that victim-centered investigation. So a lot of people, even many other officers, are not super familiar with the process and how lengthy some of these cases can be. The investigations stem from that initial report, which is primarily provided to law enforcement from NICMEC, which is the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. From there, they branch off into numerous different avenues from legal process where we're writing subpoenas or search warrants to the electronic service providers. We're executing search warrants, interviewing the witnesses and suspects, collecting evidence. Sometimes these cases have a ton of devices getting collected, some only a few. But from there, we would partner with our forensic examiners who do a great job forensically downloading these devices. We as investigators then have to comb through each and every device, which could be hundreds of thousands of images and videos, depending on, of course, the amount of storage on a device or how many pictures and videos somebody's taking, which, you know, nowadays people are on their phones a lot, taking a lot of photos and videos. So that part's extremely time consuming. It does require a lot of patience, organization, and attention to those small, minute details as the evidence can span from multiple applications, devices, jurisdictions, sometimes even countries. So from there, it's super important that we put a piece together and connect all the dots. We wrap it up into one case report and it gets sent over to our state attorney's office where they then decide on prosecution and the legal side then takes over. So the work is difficult, but it matters. All the little details are extremely, extremely important. You know, behind every file, account or report is a real child who deserves protection and a response.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Is there anything else you would like maybe parents to know that are listening?

Core Takeaways For Parents

SPEAKER_01 15:52

I think the biggest thing is just to stay involved in your child's life. That's gonna be number one advice that these investigations should have as a takeaway. Definitely, you know, stay informed, stay inquisitive, ask them questions. If what the child's telling you about their online activity raises any red flags, dig deeper. It's just really about having those conversations, letting these, letting your kids know that they can come to you, that you're a safe space and that you're gonna get them the help that they might need so that we can, of course, find these offenders.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Thank you for joining us today and for the work you do to protect children in our community. The internet isn't going away, and neither are the challenges that come with it. But with awareness, open communication, and proactive involvement, parents can play a critical role in helping their children navigate the online world safely. Thank you for listening. Stay safe, stay informed, and we'll see you next time.