Yikes! —
“Parents who share their kids’ photos on social media are unwittingly exposing their children to serious dangers from child traffickers, paedophiles, criminals and cyber gangs armed with A.I tools.

There are many SERIOUS RISKS involved, including:

1) Identity theft from photos and videos

2) Sexual exploitation and grooming

3) Cyberbullying

4) Doxing and Kidnapping Risk

Shocking statistics from the Identity Theft Resource Center reveal that 1.3 million childrens' records are stolen each year in the US.

The problem is getting worse with a 63% increase in cases from 2021 compared to 2019. And based on reports to authorities, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg!

Tracy Kitten, an expert on online safety: “the picture our findings paint quickly becomes dark, grim, and scary.”

Sexual predators are increasingly using AI to create CHILD SEX ABUSE CONTENT by applying deep-fake image generators. They use real pictures taken from social media and place these on child pornography from paedophile gangs.

A.I can also be used to impersonate an individual’s voice which can be used for fraud, extortion and cyberbullying. Imagine your child’s voice being used to say embarrassing things, and then this is used to extort or bully them.

Another risk is doxing (revealing one’s address or other personal details), something I have spoken about at length. A video or image can provide geolocation A.I tools with enough unique information to very accurately reveal the location where pictures or videos were taken.

This data can then be used by human traffickers to plan a kidnapping of the child.

Remember WSJ’s report last month about Instagram’s “VAST PAEDOPHILE NETWORK" seeking underage sexual content and activity?

MY FRIEND AND HER 7 YEAR OLD SON:

As I was writing this tweet, a close friend and employee sent me a message that made me sick.

She saw her son (who I know extremely well) taking his t-shirt off while chatting online. When she checked his phone, he was in a Telegram group with other children and was being asked by a '6-year old girl' to send her nudes. The girl sent him nudes as well.

Based on the chat and the style of writing, it was obvious to her this was an adult impersonating the girl in order to get naked photos of her son.

She also told me about a common scam in which criminals use A.I voice generators to impersonate children, and call the grandparents pretending the child is in trouble (robbed/imprisoned/kidnapped), then requesting money to be transferred.

Paedophelia, to me, is one of the most serious problems we face. Mix this with A.I. and we have a VERY MAJOR problem, one we are not yet ready for.

The short video below sums up the tweet very well. Viewer discretion is advised.

WHY IS THIS ISSUE NOT BEING TAKEN SERIOUSLY?”

https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1680644706689073155