Social Media Monsters: Internet Killers

Who is really on the other end of that Facebook friend request, or behind that dating profile, or posting that item for sale on Craigslist? How can you be safe if you plan to meet up with a stranger you met online? What precautions should you take? Facebook, Craigslist, MySpace, chat rooms, dating sites—it does not matter where you are online; killers are lurking in the shadows. They visit suicide chat rooms, search for escorts on Craigslist, and create fake social media profiles to fool and gain the trust of their victims. Someone you have been talking to for months, or even years, could be a completely different person from what you envisioned.

In July of 2009, twenty-one-year-old Heather Snively logged onto Craigslist in search of used baby clothes and toys. She was eight months pregnant with her first child and so excited to marry her fiancé and start their family. She never imagined the woman she contacted on the site had plans to murder her in cold blood and rip the baby from her womb. In 2010, eighteen-year-old Nona Belomesoff met a young man on Facebook and thought she had made a new friend and connection to her dream job. Little did she know that this man had been studying her every move through social media to gain her trust and ultimately take her life. Stories like this happen every day.