Half of Yorkshire teenagers fear speaking out about cyber crime
Parents are being urged to speak to their kids about internet safety as more head online over the summer holidays.
Half of teenagers in Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire wouldn't tell anyone if they or a friend got involved in cybercrime.
That's according to new research today.
A quarter of 16-19-year-olds surveyed said it was because they were scared of getting into trouble or didn't know who to turn to.
Parents are now being asked to speak to their kids about internet safety as increasing numbers go online over the summer holidays.
Johnathon Martin is from Tech 4 Schools and goes into local primaries and secondaries to educate young people about cybercrime.
He says it's often unintentional but young people can often find themselves in all sorts of trouble:
"It's quite often the case where they have not meant to do things illegally but things such as illegally downloading video games, illegal content and using content that isn't appropriate and that they shouldn't really have accessed is a big problem and one that not a lot of teenagers think it is a big deal and that does need to be highlighted to them.
"They can often land themselves in all sorts of trouble with the law and then also with the potential for online grooming and other areas of online safety. One thing young people do need to be careful of and schools are now very aware of this is to prevent radicalisation to ensure that teenagers in particular, that their behaviour is tracked so that they are aware of any radicalisation that is occuring, both in and out of school.
"It can be quite worrying when you hear some of the stories that the children are telling you. Things like being drawn into online bullying and there's an area for children to be potentially negative to other children. There's a lot of work going on in that area and also to address the issue of radicalisation and the illegal content issue.
"With this long summer holiday coming up, children will be on unmonitored, unfiltered internet and they can potentially be on whatever they like which can bring all sorts of problems. That is why we start our education programme young so that children know where to go if they spot anything that worries them.
"Parents must talk to their children about this and really open that dialogue and ensuring that it is a two-way street and not just a negative where if they have done something wrong. A family agreement is a great new concept that parents can get on board with and create agreements such as time limits, sites that they can and can't access, making sure that they are safe using passwords to ensure that children are kept safe over the summer holidays."