Safety with E24|7: Alert on 'virtual kid-nap'

In the digital era parents not only have to look after their children outdoors, but fear being ‘stolen’ online, too.

Imagine finding a picture of your child on another website. The picture is not only published without your consent, the user is pretending to be the rightful parent of your child, and comments on whatever he or she is doing on the picture.

This is called ‘virtual kidnapping’.  There are thousands of accounts on social media sites such as Twitter or Instagram where pictures of cute little babies are shown to trigger the ooh’s and aaw’s from other users. But the babies on display do not have any relation with the account holder.

“There are actual groups of people out there who will take that picture of your baby, post it as their own and then treat it as their own baby!!” warns website Beatthecyberbully, a local initiative informing parents about the latest online trends.

The culprits use hashtags such as #babyRP, #kidRP, #babyroleplay or #openRP on Twitter or Istagram. A quick search on Google will lead to the many accounts that are participating in this latest trend.

One may wonder why anybody would steal a baby picture. According to media that have reported the phenomenon, it mostly involves teenagers dreaming of having a child. It is also called baby roleplaying; the pictures are carefully chosen, depending on the preferences of the role player.

The graphics are accompanied by taglines such as ‘baby having first fruit’, ‘baby sitting up’ or ‘cutest baby ever’. Some even include ultrasound images, with the poster pretending to be expecting the baby. In more worrying cases, sexual comments are made over images where the baby is showing some skin.

“As always, we are trying to bring to the attention of parents the kind of things they need to be wary of in this digital age. We have some amazing communication channels available to us today. Facebook is a great way to stay in touch with family near and far. We say do that, just make sure you lock your accounts and each of your posts down to only those people you trust and who you want to see the content,” advised Beatthecyberbully.

According to the website, it is mostly from Facebook and Instagram that these images are stolen, as baby pictures are often shared without privacy settings in place.

“Secure your online profiles and platforms so that only people you know and only those you want able to see the content, are able to.”

When worried whether your child is kidnapped online, there is a tool that can track whether a picture is used anywhere online; Tineye.

A simple upload of the original picture will show you if the picture has been published. If it shows 0 results, you can sigh of relief and your baby is still only yours.