One click too many...
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Today's Safer Internet Day aims to educate children as young as five to take care when online. Young people are particularly vulnerable to cyber-predators, as a recent case in Bulgaria proved.
Just one click too many. At the end of last year, a simple click of a mouse button left around 100 Bulgarian teenagers caught in a classic cyber-trap.
Georgi Apostolov of the Bulgarian online protection agency Safenet explains the scam. "It was quite simple: A porn site operator sent out links through social networking sites, such as Skype or facebook. The kids were curious, clicked on the link and ended up on the porn site," he says.
But none of the young people involved read the small print stating that, by clicking, they agreed to pay the site a monthly fee of €30. The website would then threaten them with legal action if they did not cover the bill.
Although this practice is illegal, the firm managed to get at least 20 teenagers to pay up by exploiting fears that otherwise their parents would find out what they had been looking at on the web.
In this case, the scam came to Safenet's attention. The police began an investigation and the site was finally closed down.
But Mr Apostolov says that this case only highlights the need for better knowledge to help stop teenagers from making that one click too many. It prompted Safenet to open up a special hotline for parents and children, which now frequently forwards complaints to the police. He feels the initiative is working well.
"Often it is just a matter of hours till someone is arrested after our chat with the police. Especially with regards to child abuse and pornography it is very important to act quickly," he says.
