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NY Post
New York Post
16 Aug 2023


NextImg:This common mistake could leave your child vulnerable to digital kidnapping

Mommy bloggers beware: Cybercriminals could digitally kidnap your children.

Posting images of your kids on social media — even an innocent first day of school photo or a snap at a family gathering — could leave them vulnerable to scammers, predators and catfish who pose as the child’s parent.

Bad actors may even go one step further and digitally alter images or videos of your kids to appear explicit with the help of artificial intelligence — technology that has also been abused to mimic voices for phone scams that swindle families out of millions.

“If these photos or videos are placed on the dark web, they can often result in more serious crimes, such as identity theft or real kidnappings,” content creator Alex Hoffman said in a TikTok clip, amassing over 27,000 views.

The Pepperdine law student, who claims to have formerly worked in internet crimes for the government, said that many of these offenders are women.

Digital kidnapping has transformed into a dark web free-for-all thanks to the accessibility of people’s lives via social media.

Hoffman, who says she used to work in the government investigating internet crimes, advised parents to not post images of their kids online.
TikTok/definitelynotalex04

The people involved in this subculture, according to Courier Mail of Brisbane, Australia, pretend to be mothers, using a specific hashtag — #babyrp, short for “baby role play.”

“The only way to completely eliminate the risk of digital kidnapping is to not post any pictures of your child,” Hoffman cautioned, advising the proud parents who want to boast their kids online to do with a private account where they can monitor followers closely.

The Post has reached out to Hoffman for further comment.

At any given time, the Department of Justice estimates there are as many as 50,000 online predators, who often use social media to gain access to minors.

While most social media sites enforce a minimum age requirement of 13 to create a profile, Hoffman maintains that those platforms can still make children vulnerable to predators.

A North Carolina mom used to post her toddlers on TikTok and Instagram — until a stranger began reposting her content on other accounts.

“It never dawned on me that people out there, who might mean my kids harm, could be saving pictures of them onto their phones and doing whatever they want with them,” Katarina Strode told The Post last year.

Mom taking selfie with child

Some influencers and celebrities have removed images of their kids or covered their children’s faces to conceal their identities.
Getty Images/iStockphoto

And she isn’t the only one — celebrities and content creators alike have scrubbed their socials free of children.

In June, a bombshell report revealed just how prolific the predatory behavior is on sites like Instagram, which allowed deranged users to share and search hashtags relating to child abuse, despite parent company Meta’s commitment to remove such content.