FBI urges parents to monitor smartphone use of children

“In my house, my kids cannot download an app unless I say it’s OK.”

As kids start returning to classrooms, the FBI is reminding parents to review and monitor how their children use their smartphones.

Martin Hellmer, a supervisory FBI special agent, said it’s a parent’s job to warn their kids about predators and scammers seeking to exploit them. Hellmer said predators will use whatever apps kids use to target them.

“Kids should be highly skeptical of anyone they meet online,” Hellmer said. “Because the people who they are meeting are not always who they say they are. They could very well be talking to predators.”:

Hellmer also recommended parents control which apps their children are allowed to download.

“Children shouldn’t be able to download just any app,” Hellmer said. “In my house, my kids cannot download an app unless I say it’s OK.”

He also recommended parents disable the “geolocation” settings on their child’s phone, which can specify exactly where a photo or video was taken. Predators have used geolocation to track where kids are through social media, leading to potential confrontations or abductions, he said.

Monitoring what kids can also protect them from themselves, Hellmer said.

“Photos, videos, comments that are posted online live forever,” Hellmer said. “And they can come back to haunt these kids when they’re looking for a job sometime in the future.”

For older teens seeking more trust and privacy from their parents, Hellmer said loosening parental supervision should be made on a case by case basis.

“Parents need to use their own sense of judgement based upon their children’s level of maturity,” Hellmer said. “All that said, children make mistakes and they can deceive their parents.”

Hellmer added even if you can trust your kids to make good decisions online, you can’t trust the predators capable of exploiting even the best intentions.

If parents find out a potential predator contacted their child, Hellmer recommends they leave any evidence such as pictures, videos or texts alone and contact the FBI for forensic review.

“Save everything — don’t delete. That’s it.”