Online Alert: A Strategy to Prevent Cybercrimes Affecting Young People in Bogotá

-With this strategy, which involves students, teachers and parents, the Ministry of Security and the mobile phone company WOM Colombia and the Police, with the support of the Ministry of Education, reinforce the prevention of cybercrimes such as ‘Grooming ‘, ‘Sexting’ and cyberbullying.

-‘Online Alert’ is supported by the Roundtable of Experts Against Cybercrime, led by the Secretary of Security, which has achieved 57 interventions in the city and impacted almost 2,000 students.

-Initially, the strategy will be implemented in prioritized District educational centers in Suba, Ciudad Bolívar, Santa Fe, Antonio Nariño and Los Mártires, where theoretical-practical training workshops will be held, accompanied by informative talks and educational videos to prevent situations that may affect physical or emotionally to children and adolescents.

-According to figures from the Police Cyber ​​Center, this year 17,739 web pages containing child sexual abuse material have been blocked and 214 people have been arrested in the country for computer crimes and child sexual exploitation on the Internet.

-Computer crimes can be reported through the page to report:

Bogotá DC, September 6, 2023. According to figures from the Police Cyber ​​Center, this year 214 people have been arrested in the country for computer crimes and child sexual exploitation on the Internet. In addition, 17,739 web pages containing child sexual abuse material have been blocked.

It is a situation that in Bogotá has all the eyes of the authorities and the private sector, who have been reinforcing strategies to prevent cybercrimes such as ‘Grooming’, especially in school environments, adults who gain the trust of a minor through the Internet for sexual purposes; ‘Sexting’, when a person is forced through violence to perform an act against their will for economic purposes, derived from a previous exchange of images or videos with sexual content, or cyberbullying, when a minor is threatened , harassed or abused by another child or adolescent, through the Internet or any technological means.

For this reason, the Secretary of Security and the mobile telephone company WOM Colombia, with the support of the Secretary of Education, launched the ‘Online Alert’ strategy, which will begin in district educational institutions, located in the towns of Suba, Ciudad Bolívar, Santa Fe, Antonio Nariño and Los Mártires.

Students, teachers and parents will take part in it, with theoretical-practical training workshops, accompanied by informative talks and educational videos to prevent situations that may physically or emotionally affect children and adolescents.

This strategy is supported by the Roundtable of Experts Against Cybercrime, led by the Secretary of Security, where joint actions are articulated with the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation and the Specialized Directorate against Computer Crime and the Cyber ​​Center of the National Police, with which 57 interventions have been achieved in the city and impact 1,803 students.

“We are going to reach schools with all these tools to be able to prevent these crimes and that our children and adolescents do not fall into the famous challenges on social networks that are leading them to record themselves and commit different situations that can endanger their lives. ”, indicated Oscar Gómez Heredia, Secretary of Security of Bogotá, who recommended that parents “be alert to changes in their children’s behavior and the excessive increase in friends on social networks, which is also a warning sign, and thus they can initiate cases of harassment, threats or extrusions”.

The main recommendations to prevent this type of crime are:

• All parents must supervise their children’s activity on social networks, if they are minors. They can use the Parental control tool that electronic devices have.

• Conduct talks at home and in educational settings so that young people do not send information or intimate photos to strangers.

• Carefully review the people with whom children, adolescents and young people interact in digital environments.

• Measure the time spent by children, adolescents and young people on mobile devices.

• Carefully review emails that have suspicious links or attachments, so as not to be a victim of fraud, impersonation, or have your personal data stolen.

“We are committed to promoting the responsible and safe use of the internet, so that the processes of closing the digital divide and promoting the transformative power of connectivity are carried out responsibly and with the necessary tools so that we are informed of the risks and opportunities found in the digital world”, affirmed María Fernanda López, manager of Sustainability and Social Responsibility of WOM Colombia.

“Our bet is not only on bringing connectivity and enabling digital literacy processes, but on generating initiatives for the prevention of existing risks in the network and educating and training members of the educational community hand in hand with public allies that make each strategy goes further in favor of society”, he added.

To report a computer crime you can enter Denounce: . They can also receive personalized advice from an expert through the virtual CAI: or in the account of the social network X (formerly Twitter) @CAIVirtual, where they provide recommendations and security tips.

“It is essential to implement strategies that allow all people to identify the risks of digital media and acquire tools to deal with cyberbullying situations. For this reason, from the Ministry of Education we seek to create spaces that allow us to strengthen the capacities of girls, boys and young people to prevent this type of situation,” said Andrés Felipe Avendaño, director of the Office for School Coexistence of the Ministry of Education. from District.

Education first!