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Woman stole baby photo’s from Instagram and posted them as her own claiming they were sick or dead in a bid to get money.

She has been banned from using social media for two years.

Kati Ringer, 21, targeted two mothers at random and became abusive when challenged online, Norwich Magistrates’ Court heard, reports The Telegraph.

She was caught after an investigation by West Midlands Police and Leicestershire Police traced her IP address to a computer at her mother’s house in Norwich.

“She was using the picture of the victim’s baby reporting to people that the baby was premature, that she was seriously ill, struggling to pay for her treatment and funeral.”

When challenged by the first victim, she “became threatening towards her and made threats to rape and harm the child”.

She was sentenced to a two-year criminal behaviour order which bans her from using any social media accounts, passing any other person’s photo off as her own or asking any third party for a donation unless as a legitimate volunteer for a registered charity.

She was also handed a suspended jail term of 30 weeks, suspended for two years, ordered to pay costs and given a community order with a 30-day activity requirement.

Always remember. Prevention is the key

Dr. Deborah Gilboa, a parenting expert and TODAY contributor, urges parents to use the strictest privacy settings on social media sites to prevent people from stealing photos.

Never include children’s first or last names and other identifying information, such as street address, school or other details that could make it easier for predators to locate children. It is best to turn off location finder when sharing private info.

Leonie Smith, the Cyber Safety Lady, says photo stealing is still a very real threat. She has people contacting her regularly to tell her that they have, by chance, come across their photos being used on other sites. And that’s just the people who have actually found them.

“Stolen photos is a massive operation, and one of the reasons is because of fake accounts,” she says. “So Twitter, Instagram are absolutely loaded with fake accounts and for every fake account they need a fake photo. So where do they get them from? People’s profiles.”

Leonie gives these tips on being safe with your private photos of your children:

  • Ask yourself: why are you sharing your photos in the first place? What are you trying to gain from it? If the answer isn’t about how many ‘likes’ you might get and is more about sharing with your family and friends, then there are other ways you can do it without risking them becoming so public.
  • Create a private group: On Facebook, you can create a private group for selected family and friends where you can share your photos safely. Invite people to be part of the group under the proviso that they are not to share your photos elsewhere.
  • Email the photos directly to people you want to share with.
  • Send hard copies to elderly relatives. Even family and friends who have social media accounts might enjoy receiving some good old-fashioned snail mail from you!
  • Make a point to read and understand the privacy rules on each social media site you are signing up for. Go back and re-read the rules every few months, as things can change without you even knowing.
  • If you do decide to continue posting photos of your child online, go back and delete them every few months. People lose their social media accounts all of the time through hacking, so make sure you don’t store up too many photos.

Do you worry about your images getting stolen online?

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  • Such a terrible thing to do. So glad I am not online with social media so can’t have images stolen this way. Hope the mother gets over this.

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  • Scammers will sink to any depth to make money.

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  • This is such a cruel thing to do. I hope she has learned her lesson. I don’t post pictures on line except of my furry babies. My family is too precious to share with people I don’t know

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  • One of my biggest fears of using social media hence I review my privacy settings often.

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  • I hope she rots in hell.

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  • What a sick individual. It blows my mind that people have the sick mentality to even consider such actions. I’ve not been concerned about having my images stolen, but examples of stolen photos make me think we should all be concerned. However, we live in the world of Instagram and social media so I believe it’s too late to stop the landslide.

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  • Our children are growing up in an age the boundaries of privacy are a bit blurry.

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  • A lazy, immoral person who would rather make up stories to get money than go to work.

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  • It seems the law struggles to keep up with technology….. scary stuff

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  • This is shocking! I personally believe she got off too lightly for her actions!

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  • I am shocked that she threatened to harm the child and only received a bond – seems alarming and odd?

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  • Sick behaviour !

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  • I think she got off too lightly. She actually robbed people of money and a 30 day activity community order seems a light punishment. Also should be banned for a lot longer than 2 years form social media sites.

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  • That’s why when I post personal pictures in social media they are just visible to my friends. Not even friends of my friends can see them.

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  • How dreadful! Some people have no scruples at all!

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  • We don’t share photos anywhere, for any reason.

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  • it is a scary thought!

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  • That is really sad that some people will stoop to such low levels, sorry for the families involved.

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  • How low can you go is all l can say!

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  • My Facebook account is my backup for the really great family photos and pics of my son in case I lose my phone. But it does have strict privacy settings.

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