Stranger danger lurks in chatroom meetings

One in three adolescent New Zealand girls who use computer chatrooms end up meeting in person with potentially dangerous strangers they encounter over the internet, a survey claims.

The survey by the Internet Safety Group says such liaisons are more common among New Zealand girls aged 11 to 19 than American girls. A similar but larger US study found only a quarter of girls followed up internet associations with face-to-face meetings.

It is believed several thousand New Zealand girls log on every day.

Police were concerned about the survey results, particularly as paedophiles were known to inhabit chatrooms. Child abuse squad chief Detective Sergeant Dean Rosson warned teenagers against the meetings.

"We have situations where older men are posing as teenagers - let's face it, you can't see the person - so when they team up they find themselves in a dangerous situation," he said.

Internet Safety Group president Liz Butterfield said some of the on-line survey results were a surprise.

"In particular the figure about how many had meetings ... that was a surprise, and how many were going to the meeting alone and how many had not told their parents," she said.

A third didn't tell their parents or caregivers and a similar number went to the meeting alone.

Other worrying trends include:

* 60 per cent of those in the survey behaved in a potentially unsafe way, including 35.5 per cent giving out personal information, 26.5 per cent sending a photograph of themselves and 14.5 per cent posting a picture on the net.

* 95.5 percent use the internet at home, yet 75 per cent say their use is monitored only occasionally, or never, by an adult.

* 44.5 per cent use the internet at school but 58 per cent say it is monitored occasionally or never.

- NZPA