It's important to remember that you are in charge of who you talk to and the information you believe when you're online. You can decide who you talk to and check information you read before you believe it.

Often when you sign up to something online you have to give yourself an alias or nickname. Pretending to be someone else can be part of the fun; just like you can play the part of someone else on the stage, or take on a role in a game, so it is possible to take on another role online.

However, be careful as it is difficult to know when someone is pretending and having fun or lying and wanting to be cruel. It is always best to be careful and if you feel uncomfortable with the way a conversation is going you have several options:

• Stop the conversation and leave the place where you are chatting.
• Block the person who is making you uncomfortable so they can no longer contact you.
• Save the conversation and show an adult that you trust.
• If it is really serious, then you can report them to the chat facility, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), or the police.

If someone is pestering you to meet up or hassling you it may be that they aren't the nice person they say they are and may be lying about their age, interests, and even their sex.

Just like individuals can lie on line, so organisations and companies can also mislead you. Just because someone has put something up on a website doesn't mean it is true. Also many advertising banners pop-ups and links can be misleading. Being SMART online means you need to ask questions and check whether information on websites is true. See www.quick.org.uk for a good set of tests you can judge a good website by.