The "Bric" Hits the Alarm

No I did not throw a brick at the alarm clock. This is something that bothered me a little. We have all seen the stories of internet predators and how sneaky they can be. I have cautioned my grown children about the predators who frequent sites like MySpace. My kids all have accounts there. Maybe I'm a little paranoid about things. I like to think I'm careful.

Yesterday,I turned on my Yahoo IM which I sometimes do when one of my daughters is on line. While checking my e-mail I get a message that someone named "Bric" wants to connect with me on my Yahoo 360 blog. Ok, I said sure. After a brief check, I see that he is in Houston. So I agree to let him sign on as a friend. He opened a chat. We talked about Houston. Then he asked me where I lived. I told him the area. Then he wanted to know how old I was. I told him in jest, "two years older than God." Then he wanted to get my picture. I declined. I told him that the camera and I are not friends. He asked if I was married and what my husband did. This all seemed innocent enough until he started pushing for a picture and my age and marital status. That is when the alarm went off. Most people I know joke about age and pictures. He continued to press me for information. Considering we had only been chatting for about three minutes, the alarm in my head was getting louder.

I ended up signing out of my IM to turn him off. Maybe it is nothing, maybe something. I took another look at his 360 page. All his "friends" are young women. He noted that he is 48, married, and bored. Hum. So what should I think? Did I over-react? Was my intuition correct? I have always been fairly good at reading people. What will happen today when I want to IM Annie? I guess I have to make sure my radar and alarms are set. You never know who is lurking out here in cyberspace.