By engaging in an online community, like abcupdates, you are potentially exposing yourself to safety risks. Here are some basic tips that we recommend you practice while interacting with people on abcupdates.

• Don't share personal information with people you meet on abcupdates. Personal information means "information that can be used to uniquely identify, contact, or locate a single person or can be used with other sources to uniquely identify a single individual". Here are some examples of personal information:
• • Full name
  • Phone number
  • Bank details
  • Home address
  • Facebook ID or other similar IDs
  • Websites containing information described above or information about your relatives, friends etc.

• Think twice before you share your email or instant messaging address with people on abcupdates. The person you shared it with may not be the one he/she claimed to be and his/her intentions may not be fully disclosed.

• Don't send personal pictures to people you meet on abcupdates.

• Be careful when opening files sent from people on abcupdates. They can be harmful to your computer or it may not be the content that you think it is.

• We discourage having real-life meetings with people you met on abcupdates. If you feel safe and still want to do it, you should follow these guidelines:
• • Always consult your parents or a trusted adult before you decide to meet someone. If possible, bring an adult to the encounter.
  • Let people know where you're going and when you'll be back from the encounter.
  • Always arrange the meeting in a very public place like a popular coffee shop, a busy shopping mall, or similar place.

• If you decide to tell someone your age and/or gender, be honest about it. Being dishonest about your age/gender can lead to awkward, and potentially dangerous situations.

• Take threats, cyberbullying and other illegal activity seriously! If you feel that someone is threatening, bullying or performing other illegal activities to you, or someone else on abcupdates - be quick to report this behavior to abcupdates. If you know or suspect that a criminal act has taken place or may happen, report the case to your local police.

We recommend that you take a look at these resources for more information:
kidshealth.org/en/teens/internet-safety.html
www.wiredsafety.com/