A concerned parent is raising the alarm after suggestive emails and a nude picture were sent to his seven-year-old son through his PlayStation3 gaming system.
Sturgeon County resident Mike Ratkovic was shocked to discover an online conversation was going on between his son and an unidentified person through the PlayStation Network, the online component of the gaming system that allows players to chat and play games together.
Ratkovic has since contacted the Morinville RCMP who have told him they are now investigating the incident and looking at collecting more information.
Ratkovic said the exchanges were happening through the network’s email system and included lewd conversations, invitations to his son to strip in front of a web cam and cartoons of a suggestive nature.
“It started in December and it actually started pretty quick and whoever this guy is is asking my son to get naked in a video chat room.”
Ratkovic said since then the person has toned down their advances, but the conversations remain troubling.
“Between then and now he has just been talking and he sent what I thought was a really creepy picture.”
Ratkovic said the creepy picture was a drawing of characters from a PlayStation game showing one of the characters touching another inappropriately and encouraging the other to be silent about it.
He said the final straw was when the person sent his son an image of male genitalia last week.
That image spiked concern with the network’s administrators, who shut down Ratkovic’s account Friday, which was the first sign to him that something was going on.
He said he was surprised this was going on through the network and simply didn’t see the possibility.
“I am a sophisticated computer user, I am a programmer, I have been on the Internet since it started. I am a university professor. I know this stuff,” he said. “I am really careful about the computer and stuff, but this did not even enter my mind.”
He said he wanted other parents to know this threat was out there.
“Despite the fact that we are watching, we are paying attention, this sort of thing was happening right under our nose.”
He said he had plenty of opportunity to have seen this sort of thing, but he simply wasn’t looking for it.
“I play with my son all the time and I was still missing this,” he said. “It is very easy for this to happen if you are not being vigilant.”
Ratkovic said that, through another account they have been able to determine the person’s account was still active. He said he doesn’t know what the person’s intentions were, but it has him concerned.
“I don’t know where this would have gone had we not caught it.”
