Anchor Lead: In this era of social media, many people still post photos of themselves and their loved ones without much thought of where they "could" end up. But a disturbing new trend known as digital kidnapping may change all of that. As (reporter) found, parents and children need to discuss this new online frontier.

She was talking very provocatively on line to other males using my daughter’s profile picture.  She was posting on dating websites using my daughter’s pictures.

A SCARY PROSPECT FOR ANY PARENT… TO LEARN THEIR CHILD’S PICTURE IS BEING USED BY SOMEONE ELSE ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND DATING SITES.

The impersonator took some of the pictures of my daughter, who has long brown hair, and she also used other pictures that she found online of other teenage girls without their faces showing that looked like it “could” be my daughter because they also had long brown hair or they had the same body shape.

THIS MOTHER DID NOT WANT TO SHOW HER IDENTITY TO PROTECT HER DAUGHTER – BUT SHE WANTS OTHER PARENTS TO HEAR HER STORY TO WARN OTHER FAMILIES.

Her friend told her that she saw somebody on Instagram with her picture but she was saying derogatory things to other Instagram members, and she knew that my daughter was not like that.

THE FAMILY WAS STUNNED TO SEE THEIR DAUGHTER’S PICTURES ON THE ACCOUNT AND MORE SHOCKED TO SEE THE DIALOG BETWEEN THE ACCOUNT AND STRANGERS.

My daughter was scared because she didn’t know who was impersonating her, at the time we didn’t know if it was a man, woman, a child.

FIRST, THE FAMILY CONTACTED THE POLICE... THEN THEY LEARNED THE OWNER OF THE ACCOUNT KNEW THEIR DAUGHTER.  ONCE THE MINOR INVOLVED WAS CONTACTED, THE IMAGES AND THE ACCOUNTS WERE REMOVED.
 
So, in her fantasy life, when she stole my daughter’s identity, she was living a completely opposite lifestyle.

EXPERTS SAY IF YOU DON’T WANT PHOTOS STOLEN – DON’T POST THEM.  ANOTHER TIP: USE THE STRICTEST PRIVACY SETTINGS ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES WHICH CAN PREVENT PEOPLE FROM STEALING PHOTOS.

(Bladismir Rojo, US Postal Inspector)
The great thing about the Internet is it brings the world closer, and the bad thing about the Internet is it brings the world closer.  So we got to be careful about who we are allowing into our homes, into our businesses.

Anchor Tag: Experts warn, once you post an image, don't think you have any control over the picture.  In this case, the account was deleted after the victim’s family contacted the account owner.