Dad’s warning as son, 10, targeted on PlayStation Network and offered PORN photos
CHILDREN are being targeted by creeps on the Playstation Network offering them nude photographs and porn, a concerned parent has revealed.
Daryl Byrne, from Dublin, claims his ten-year-old son has received X-rated messages from strangers while playing games online.
Little Oscar Sweeney has been sent three of these unsolicited private messages in the past year while playing games such as and on the Network.
Kids are being sent friend requests from strangers purporting to be girls on along with seedy messages asking them to pay to see naked photographs of them.
The messages are accompanied by a link which can contain computer viruses or send users to graphic porn websites.
Speaking to The Sun, dad Daryl told how he reached out to Playstation about the accounts which were deleted but new messages continued to flood in.
He said: “It looks like a group of people are doing it because it is always different user names. They are creating multiple accounts and just sending out loads of messages to people.
“Basically the message that my son received was offering him nude pictures if he visited a website and paid to see them.
“The accounts claim to be a girl. They will be like ‘LadyPlaystation’ or something like that as their username. They ask if you want to see nude photos of them go to this site and pay. They are constantly changing their usernames.
You could have paedophiles or people trying to groom kids on there. Anyone can create an account
Concerned dad Daryl Byrne
“It’s a case where anyone can create an account. There is no security to check who is behind the accounts or anything like that. My son is ten years old and in the last year he’s probably received about three of them. He also said that his friends in school are getting them as well.”
The concerned father said that after you report the accounts to bosses they are shut down but new accounts spring up in their place.
Daryl said: “I did write to Playstation last year about it and they said all you can really do is block the accounts and report them.
“The problem is once you report them and Playstation ban them, they go and create a new account and send more messages. What I’m guessing they are doing is going into Playstation searching names and then sending out messages randomly.
“They send a friend request and a message with the friend request. So if these spam things are able to do that then who else is able to do it?
“People could target kids and chat to kids. You could have paedophiles or people trying to groom kids on there. Anyone can create an account.”
He continued: “I think need better security as regards creating accounts. When someone is under 18 they could ask for a parent’s ID or something like that to verify them. Or if they are over 18, they should have to send in an ID just show that they are a real person.
“I think it’s important to flag this to parents so that they know that kids are being sent these messages on Playstation and to keep an eye out.”
Playstation declined to comment.
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