Be vigilant in monitoring phone activity
We have been made aware of a WhatsApp group called ‘Add your friends’ which is circulating in the South Tyneside area. It is believed to be aimed at Y4, Y5 and Y6 children.
This group may or may not contain inappropriate content. We want you to be aware that children can be added into WhatsApp groups by people who are not in their contacts. It is important that parents and carers check their child’s phone to make sure that they are not talking to people that they don’t know online.
Below are a set of instruction to ensure that your child’s phone settings do not allow them to be added to any groups on WhatsApp by people they do not know.
- Tap settings
- Tap Privacy > Groups
- Select the following option > My contacts
Now only contacts in your phone’s address book can add you to groups without your approval. If a group admin who is not in your phone’s address book tries to add you to a group they will get a pop-up which says they can’t add you. They will then be prompted to tap invite to group or press continue, followed by the send button to send a private group invite through an individual chat. You then have three days to accept the invite before it expires.
