Toronto police have received close to a dozen complaints in the last month about people hacking into online meetings and flooding them with child pornography or racial slurs.

Det. Sgt. Paul Krawczyk said several investigations are ongoing but no one has been charged. Potential charges include possession of child pornography, mischief or sexual assault. Incidents involving racial slurs could lead to hate crime charges, he said.

Similar stories have played out in cities across Canada and the U.S. as the COVID-19 pandemic keeps people at home and constantly on computers conducting business or connecting with friends.

This is what Krawczyk suggests for keeping your virtual gathering safe.

Keep the meeting private

Don’t put your meeting ID on social media and create a unique meeting ID for each gathering. Also, require that guests use a password to sign in to keep strangers out.

Decide who joins the meeting

All meeting tools are different. But, generally, you can adjust the settings so a host must preview and approve new people before they enter the meeting.

Capture the bad moments

Anyone who wants to file a complaint about a problem related to an online meeting can call their local police department. Be prepared to provide investigators with the ID code of the meeting, the usernames of those posting hateful content, as well as screengrabs of what was shared.

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