Muswellbrook Police Youth Liaison Officer Sheree Gray addressed year nine students on the topic of cyber crime recently.

Using information from the Police School Safety Response Unit Officer Gray gave students tips on how to use technology responsibly.

Cyber crime can involve internet fraud, the sending of offensive or threatening emails and text messages to a victim or stalking people in chat rooms.

It is also an offence to send photos of a person by phone or post them on the internet without their permission.

Officer Gray said cyber crime was on the increase in the city as well as in the regions due to the high proportion of the population with mobile phones.

“Young people in the country are not immune to cyber crime. These types of crimes aren’t restricted by distance or time,” Officer Gray said.

One of the major messages she sent to students was the fact police can investigate incidents that happen within school grounds.

Within the Hunter LAC police have investigated a staged fight that was filmed and put on the internet by Upper Hunter students.

Police can also track private numbers on mobile phones and get to the source of the person sending threatening text messages.

“Harassment can either mean making a high number of calls or making threatening calls or both,” Officer Gray said.

“Often offenders feel it isn’t such a big deal but to the victim the threat is very real, they can feel scared and intimidated.”

The advice to parents is to report the cyber crime to either the school or to the police.

Officer Gray also recommended that parents block sites or images they don’t want their children to see by using a net nanny program.

“Also once a threat or harassment is made in written form, police can use it for evidence. So make sure you keep a copy,” she said.

According to police statistics one in four young people say they have been contacted on the internet by someone unknown to them.

Predators often pretend to be much younger than they are in order to develop a relationship with a younger person.

On March 6 the child exploitation internet unit of the NSW Police arrested the first person alleged to have groomed a teenage girl for sex.

The arrest was made possible under the new Crimes Amendment (sexual procurement or grooming of children) Act 2007 now Section 66EB of the Crimes Act, which commenced on January 18.