The Dangers Of Chat Rooms And How To Stay Safe Online
With internet and social media constantly on the rise, the dangers of direct messaging and using chats features on these websites and apps tend to increase as well. In the fairly recent past, online safety was mainly preached to children and teenagers. Now, with the increased use of social media overall, adults are at risk to the danger of the internet as well.
The dangers of chat rooms
Below are some of the most common dangers online and how to avoid them.
Hacking and impersonation
When it comes to the internet, you may not even be able to trust your family and friends. An increasingly common method of online scamming comes in the form of hackers taking over the social media profiles of people you know and contacting you via message.
These hackers will attempt to impersonate your friends, family or colleagues, typically in an attempt to get personal details or money from you. In addition to friends and family, some scammers may attempt to impersonate celebrities or public figures to do the same.
How To Stay Safe: If you receive a message from someone you know, or a “celebrity” that seems off, trust your gut. Do not give personal details or money to anyone online unless you can be certain they are who they say they are. Additionally, most social media platforms will include a way to identify the real profiles of celebrities or public figures such as a checkmark logo next to their screen name, or otherwise.
Fake check scams
Fake check scams are common when buying, selling, or offering services online. Typically, these scams will consist of someone showing interest in an item you have put up for sale or a service you are offering online. The scammer will offer to mail or email a check for significantly more money than the price of the object or service. They will then ask that you deposit the check, and send them a portion of the money back.
Oftentimes, these scammers will entice users with the offer to keep an additional portion of the check, essentially seeming to offer more than the asking price. Unfortunately, these checks are fake and intended not to clear, thus tricking the victim into send money taken directly from their own account.
How To Stay Safe: When making any kind of transaction online, use a trusted method of payment. For more information on how to spot, avoid and report fake check scams, visit the Federal Trade Commission website.
Catfishing
Similar to impersonation, catfishing consists of a person pretending to be someone they are not online. Where these scams tend to different is in the nature of the scammers intent. Where someone hacking an account typically aims to get money or personal details, someone catfishing will likely aim to pursue a romantic relationship or friendship under the guise of being someone else, or looking entirely different in real life.
While some catfish will attempt to use the relationship for financial gain, oftentimes the harm they cause is purely psychological.
How To Stay Safe: When you start talking to someone new online, ask them to schedule a video chat with you. If the person makes frequent excuses for why they are not able to video chat, or keeps their face or features concealed during video chats, they are most likely catfishing.
Cyberbullying and trolling
Unfortunately, one of the most common dangers of the internet and chat rooms is also one of the most difficult to avoid. The ability to comment publicly on almost any form of media opens many of us up to cyberbullying and trolling.
Cyberbullying and trolling tend to occur when a large number of people come across a photo, video, comment, or any sort of post that could be considered controversial or simply draws a lot of attention. This form of targeted harassment is intended to intimidate, humiliate, or outright threaten the victim, and often comes from a place of insecurity or a need for control on the part of the attacker.
How To Stay Safe: Try to limit the amount of personal detail that is available about you online, such as your address and phone number. Avoid making public comments or posts that you would rather not receive feedback on. If you have fallen victim to cyberbullies or trolls, oftentimes it can be best to log off entirely.
Benefits of online therapy
Though the presence of the internet has made connection to telehealth and medicine much more reachable, the consequences of being fooled, scammed or attacked online can often have serious effects on mental health and well-being.
It is possible that online therapy can be beneficial and potentially serve as a highly constructive use of your time on the internet.
Effectiveness of online therapy
According to research, the increase of opportunity to strong digital mental health intervention has been shown to have significant and meaningful positive effects on the well-being of those who participate.
Additionally, online therapy is proven to be equally as effective as in-person therapy when it comes to the reduction of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
Takeaway
What are the disadvantages of chat rooms?
Free online chat rooms can be a great place to interface with others and have open, genuine conversations, but they come with disadvantages. The most notable of which is likely the risk of lost anonymity. Chat rooms are typically anonymous places; real names are rarely used, and there is often little delicate information on display. Anonymity has many advantages, such as making it easier to discuss challenging topics, but it also allows malicious users to lie about their identity and intentions.
If a person gives out delicate information in a chat, even if the chat is moderated, it is possible that another chat room member can use that information to steal the person’s identity, find out their real-life location, or contact them outside of the chat. Because it is difficult to verify the identity or claims of other users, it is important to avoid giving out any information that can be used to determine a person’s real name or location. Simply restricting delicate information is typically enough to reduce the disadvantageous risks of chat rooms.
What rules should a person follow in a chat room?
Many chat rooms have specific rules and guidelines for their members to follow, and those should always be followed. Moderated chat rooms usually do not hesitate to remove chat members who break established guidelines. While rules may differ slightly from room to room, following some general guidelines everywhere may be helpful:
- Never give out delicate information like your name, address, school, telephone number, or any information someone can use to determine your identity and location.
- Choose a non-descript and generic username. Consider using a different username from what you have used elsewhere.
- Never open links or download files unless you know who sent them personally.
- Treat all chat members with respect, and adhere to room rules.
- Report harassment or inappropriate content in group chats to moderators as soon as the incident occurs.
What should you avoid doing in chat rooms?
You should always avoid going against a chat room’s rules or disrespecting others, but the most important thing you should avoid is likely providing personally identifying information. It is any information other chat users could use to determine your identity or location. Your real name, address, phone number, or email are all examples of it. If you don’t give out that information, malicious users can’t use it to scam you, steal your identity, or contact you in real life.
What are some dangers to chat rooms and social media pages?
Chat sites have many advantages but also have some noteworthy risks. Likely, the most significant risk is losing your anonymity. An online chat room is usually designed to provide a wide degree of anonymity to its members. While that can make discussing difficult topics or relating to others easier in many cases, it also increases the likelihood of inappropriate behavior. It is important to protect your anonymity in a chat; never give out delicate information or anything a person can use to determine your real name or location.
Social media pages rely less on anonymity, but the risk of unintentionally sharing too much delicate information remains. Consider making your profile visible only to those in your friend list. If you do have public-facing profiles, be sure you are only posting information you are comfortable with the whole world seeing. Be cautious of posting images of yourself and providing too many details about your activities; it may be possible for someone to piece together enough information to figure out where you are or how to contact you outside of social media.
Why is it difficult to manage a chat room compared to a forum?
Chat users typically communicate at a much quicker pace than what is typical in a forum. In a forum, users create a “thread” about a specific topic. Someone might ask a specific question or solicit advice from other forum members. Responses to their post typically appear with the oldest highest in the thread, and more recent responses appear further down the thread. Forum posts can range from single sentences to highly detailed essays, and there may be minutes, hours, or days between posts.
In contrast, chat communication typically takes place in real-time. Messages tend to be short, and the flow of communication often resembles real-life conversations. The quicker pace of online chat rooms makes them more difficult to moderate as messages appear. In a forum, moderators usually have much more time to locate and respond to inappropriate posts, while chat rooms typically require the moderator to catch an incident as soon as it occurs or rely on it being reported later.
How can I protect my identity in a chat room?
The most straightforward way to protect your identity online is to never provide personally identifying information. Delicate information like your real name, hometown, or the school you graduated from can all be used to track down your location in real life or determine other parts of your identity. Similarly, digital information like passwords, PINs, credit card numbers or your SSN may be enough for a malicious person to steal your identity. By adhering to a policy of never sharing that information, you can protect yourself from potential identity theft or other risks associated with chat rooms.
How do you safely use chat rooms?
Ensuring safety in chat rooms and social media often comes down to restricting the type and amount of information you share. No matter what you are doing online, be extremely hesitant to share delicate information that can be used to identify you or determine your location, such as your real name, address, SSN, school, or place of employment.
You should also be suspicious of anyone who requests delicate information from you. Many different chat rooms have specific rules that prohibit sharing or soliciting delicate information, regardless of whether the identity of the person receiving the information is known to you. If sharing delicate information is forbidden by the rules of the chat, immediately report anyone who requests personal details, regardless of whether you are in a chat online.
Also, avoid opening links or downloading files sent by people you do not know. Malicious actors can use chat rooms to spread malware or other dangerous computer files. They can even attempt to put software on your computer that takes control of your webcam. An unknown link might be someone trying to show you one of their favorite videos or a malicious link that downloads malware onto your computer. It is challenging to tell in advance which is true, but avoiding downloading files and clicking unknown links reduces most of the risk.
What delicate information should not be shared online?
Avoid sharing personality identifiable information with those you do not know. It is any information that can be used to discover your identity or location, including your real name, address, phone number, age, school, place of employment, or planned activities. There are different categories of personality identifiable information, but if you stick to a policy of sharing as little as possible, your risk will likely diminish considerably. Information that is usually safe to share includes likes, dislikes, or other preferences and details about specific situations with personally identifying information removed.
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