We recently received a question asking us if there was any truth to a posting that has been seen spreading on Facebook. The warning circulating is advising people to not join a Facebook group called “becoming a father or mother was the greatest gift of my life.” The posting goes on to say that a Fox news channel did a story exposing the group as a front used by pedophiles to gain access to Facebook photos and other profile information.

We checked into this, and we did not find any groups described above. It appears that any groups that have been recently formed were in response to the original message. According to hoax-slayer.com, this group never existed and spreading the warning via your Facebook profile and news feed is pointless. They go on to state that this story was never reported by Fox or any other credible news outlet.

Even though this particular group may not exist, you can be certain that Facebook and other social networking sites are frequented and trolled by pedophiles looking for their next victim. There have been several stories of young children and teens being groomed by sadistic, predatory animals. Some of these stories have tragic endings with the victim(s) being molested and often times murdered. As a parent, make sure you are carefully monitoring your child’s online activities and report any suspicious activity to the proper authorities.