Vulnerable children at greatest risk from online harms
- Britain’s two million most vulnerable children are seven times more likely to come to harm online than their peers, according to a study by Internet Matters, the online safety body
- Yet those children are also more likely to rely on the internet for support and entertainment, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, the not-for-profit group said
- It called for parents, schools and technology firms to find ways of protecting children, without removing their access
- The report, Refuge and Risk, by the consultancy Youthworks in partnership with Internet Matters, surveyed 14,449 children aged 11 to 17, of whom 6,500 self-identified as having one or more vulnerabilities, such as being in care, being autistic or having an eating disorder
- The study found that 40% of children with three or more vulnerabilities had experienced cyberbullying or racist or homophobic comments, compared with 11% of their peers
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Marcas Rashford subject to racist abuse on social media
- Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford says he was subjected to “humanity and social media at its worst” after receiving racist abuse on Saturday
- The 22-year-old, who was awarded the MBE for his work fighting child food poverty, received multiple racist messages on Instagram on Saturday
- They were sent to the England striker after United’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal.
- Rashford failed to react, choosing not to share screenshots, as he said that would be harmful to the children and young people who follow him
- In a statement released on Sunday, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it was aware that a number of Manchester United players had suffered abuse on social media between Wednesday and Saturday
- The Duke of Cambridge has called for racist abuse aimed at footballers to stop, calling it “despicable”
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Online scammers use Instagram
- A young man has been scammed out of £17,000 by a user on Instagram who used pictures of a glamorous lifestyle to show how easy it was to ‘get rich quick’
- It was advertised on a foreign exchange app
- “I was following this guy on Instagram and he always posts with his car, a rose gold Maserati, saying that he’s rich and self-made and really young, he’s only 21,” said the 24-year-old, accountant
- “At first I put in £1,000 and once I saw I was getting money I deposited a bit more and more. In the end, I was scammed out £17,000,” he told the BBC’s Money Box programme
- Since the coronavirus outbreak began last year, the average number of Instagram frauds reported each month has increased by more than 50%, according to new figures by Action Fraud, the UK police national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime
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