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SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Sexting like ‘drug addiction’ for Kiwi teens, with kids as young as 11 taking part

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Sexting is being labelled a drug-like addiction for some Kiwi teens, with increasing numbers of young people sending naked photos of themselves.

Sexting, the sending of explicit phone messages, often with naked photos, is now so common that New Zealand parents would struggle to find a teenager who has not been asked to send one, NetSafe has warned. [Netsafe Inc. is a New Zealand registered charity – Reg. No. CC24058].

The head of NetSafe is aware of children as young as 11 sexting, and said suicide was among the most-extreme outcomes.

And the problem comes with a stark warning – images can last online forever, and appear each time the sender’s name is typed into a search engine.

“For some teens, [sexting] has become quite a normal part of dating,” said NetSafe chief technology officer Sean Lyons.

“You’d be hard pressed to find a teen that hasn’t been asked to send a naked or semi-naked photo of themselves in New Zealand.”

See full article: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/76672892/sexting-like-drug-addiction-for-kiwi-teens-with-kids-as-young-as-11-taking-part

 

New Zealanders more vulnerable to scammers than ever before

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Kiwis have lost a whooping $12 million more to scammers last year than they did five years ago.

The latest figures from internet watchdog NetSafe revealed more and more New Zealanders were falling victim to scams, losing a total of $13.4m in 2015 – more than double the 2014 loss.

As a result, NetSafe are now recording losses, on average, of more than $1m each month. [Read more…]

Warning as cyber-criminals target NZ charities

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Cyber-criminals have targeted two New Zealand charities in automated attacks attempting to validate large numbers of stolen credit cards.

Internet watchdog NetSafe [a registered charity]  has warned charities taking online donations to be alert after the attacks on the two organisations, which it did not name.

In the first incident, almost 50,000 attempts were made to rapidly submit fake donations through a website form with the aim being to test which credit cards could be used for subsequent online fraud or sold on to other internet scammers.

More than 2000 successful donations were made resulting in the charity having to enlist the help of their bank and merchant account provider to refund the fraudulent payments.

They also spent time dealing with enquiries from cardholders around the world questioning the transactions.

NetSafe offers advice for charities and website owners. You can also contact NetSafe via their freephone telephone number 0508 NETSAFE or report an incident online at www.theorb.org.nz.

For full story see:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/crime/news/article.cfm?c_id=30&objectid=11387380

Sexual perverts act as predators by ‘sextorting’ kids online

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Online predators are increasingly resorting to “sextortion” – blackmailing child victims into providing explicit images.

Internet safety watchdogs say they are seeing new trends in the methods used to extort kids as young as eight into sending pictures of themselves to perverts, who often masquerade as youngsters online. [Read more…]

‘Sexting’ growing issue for Kiwi teens

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An increasing number of New Zealand teenagers are seeking help when relationship breakups lead to “sexting” material going viral.

Cybersafety organisation Netsafe is reporting a rise in incidents where videos and photographs containing personal sexual content are sent into cyberspace after a relationship breakup, including “handfuls” of teenagers each month.

It aligns with new research that found sexting was increasing among 14 to 19-year-old American teenagers, indicating a higher prevalence of sexual activity in their offline lives.

Researchers at the University of Texas medical branch found that nearly 30 per cent of US teenagers had sent nude photos via email or text, and 57 per cent had been asked to.

Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said New Zealand’s statistics would be similar, with sexting usually starting when teenagers became sexually active.

“It is certainly going on.”

A “handful” of the sexting cases reported to Netsafe each month involved teenagers and were usually reported when a relationship had gone bad, and sexual material taken or received during the relationship was distributed among a wider audience.

“It is not so much the creation that’s the issue, it’s the later distribution of it. Unfortunately that happens a lot.”

Netsafe offered advice and support. But most often the distributed files could not be entirely deleted from cyberspace, he said.

The Law Commission has sought public opinion on potential digital issues. It received more than 70 submissions and was preparing a final report and recommendations for the Government by the end of the year.

–Fairfax NZ News and Reuters

The Dominion Post, Thursday, 5 July, 2012, p. A5.

Jody O’Callaghan and Reuters

Stuff

News Link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/7222873/Sexting-growing-issue-for-Kiwi-teens