My husband was grocery shopping today and witnessed this incident, and it made me concerned.
An adult man was walking around the store trying to catch Pokemon, and he saw a kid who was doing the same. As he had just caught a really good Pokemon in the parking lot, he asked the kid if he could show him where it was. The kid agreed, and followed this stranger out of the store.
The adult realized that he had essentially just lured a kid away from his parents in a public place, and immediately told the kid to go back inside to his parents.
This guy clearly had no bad intentions toward the kid, but how easily could someone have done the same thing intentionally in order to abduct or harm a child? After all, people have already used Pokemon Go to commit armed robbery.
So I want to warn both adult (over 18) Pokemon Go players and parents of children who play the game.
Parents: If possible, go with your children when they go out to play the game. If that isn’t possible, be sure to have a conversation with them about strangers, even strangers who are playing the same game. It might be appropriate to point out the real cases of crimes committed using Pokemon Go so the kid understands that the threat is real.
Adult Pokemon Go players: Remember that minors are still minors, even if you’re both playing the same game. Don’t ask minors to follow you or join you in hunting Pokemon. Don’t meet up with minors for Pokemon hunting without parental consent.
You may have no bad intentions, but that might not stop you from being accused of something you didn’t do or try to do. False accusations could ruin your life. Plus, you don’t want to encourage minors to trust adults just because they’re playing the same game, because the next adult might not have such good intentions.
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