Don’t take nude pictures, videos
The Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service has cautioned teenagers to desist from taking nude pictures and videos of themselves since those pictures and videos could end up being leaked on the Internet.
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The Director of the Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Dr Gustav Herbert Yankson, in an interview with the Junior Graphic, said teenagers, especially girls who visited social media platforms should not communicate with strangers who try to befriend them since those strangers might later demand their nude pictures among other vital information which would be used to blackmail them.
“In the first place, you do not have to take a nude picture or video of yourself and put it on your phone or tablet.
This is because you may lose your phone/tablet or send it for repairs or even give it to a friend who may send your pictures somewhere else without your knowledge,” he said.
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Dr Yankson was responding to the recent arrests of two university students; Elvin Boakye and Desmond Appleton who allegedly posted the nude pictures of a 14-year-old junior high school (JHS) pupil on the Internet.
This was after Boakye had gone to the girl’s school to sell T-shirts and befriended her; they later began communicating on Instagram, a social media site.
Boakye somehow succeeded in convincing the girl to send her nude pictures and videos to him which he shared with Appleton.
According to Chief Superintendent Dr Yankson, a total of 11 girls fell victim to the activities of the suspects but only one reported the case with the support of her mother and teacher, adding that the other victims had since switched off their phones, thereby making it difficult for the police to contact them.
“I am sure they do not want their parents to know what they had been doing,” he said.
Dr Yankson cautioned youngsters not to video-chat with strangers since such persons might be recording the video chats without their knowledge.
Sometimes they (strangers) encourage you to video chat with them and unknown to you, they would be recording from the other end. So do not video chat with anyone, especially people you do not know,” he added.
Chief Superintendent Dr Yankson also urged parents to constantly monitor their children’s activities on the Internet to ensure that they were not doing things that could adversely affect their safety and future.
The Director of the Cyber Crime Unit said it was platforms such as “Facebook that were landing youngsters into trouble because that is where strangers hide to track down their victims using fake names among other things”.
“Usually, youngsters do not go to the bad sites. It is the good sites such as facebook that is landing them in trouble since that is where strangers hide to get unsuspecting youngsters,” added.
Chief Superintendent Dr Yankson also said school authorities should not allow strangers to their compounds to do business or engage in constant interactions with their students since some people might have ulterior motives.
