Parents need to know the secret codes on Instagram and Snapchat to deal drugs
You may not be on Snapchat or Instagram. Maybe you couldn’t care less about all these social media sites. But let’s face it: your kids and grandkids do care about them. Among their age group, Snapchat and Instagram are even more popular than Facebook.
That’s why it’s important for you to keep up with what’s happening on these sites. Some children are using them as a front to buy and sell drugs online. If you don’t know what to look for, then your child could be doing it right under your nose.
A recent BBC documentary found that teens in the U.K. are earning hundreds of dollars a day by selling drugs through Instagram, Snapchat and Yellow, which is like Tinder for teens. A gang member told the undercover reporter that 75 percent of their money is coming from clients they contact through social media.
Even though this documentary is from the United Kingdom, you should still be concerned. According to the 2016 World Drug Report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the U.S. is one of the most drug-addicted countries in the world.
Here are the emoji codes you need to be looking out for:
It’s not hard to see why a lot of these emojis represent the drugs that they do. But now that you’re aware that this is happening, you know what to look out for. Stay informed with these other charts that show codes and emojis that teens may use to hide things from their parents.
* Click here for more advice from Kim about keeping your children safe online.
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Tags: codes, documentary, drugs, emojis, Facebook, family, grandkids, home, Instagram, kids, money, online, Snapchat, social media, teens, Tinder